The Disappearance
by WingedFreedom622
Summary: After failing to bring Sasuke back, Naruto disappears. Five years later, the Sound tries an open invasion of Konoha one more time. NaruTen! CH. 27 IS UP! AU. SUSPENDED PENDING REWRITE DECISION
1. Prolouge

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Summary: After failing to bring Sasuke back, Naruto disappears. Five years later, the Sound tries an open invasion of Konoha one more time.

R&R! Your reviews will determine if I even bother uploading Ch.1

The night was balmy, but not enough so to need a jacket or cloak. The patrol at the south wall was bored. The two chuunins were close to either falling asleep or going crazy from all the random noises coming from the woods. Both of the young men were new to the patrol, both had just passed the Chuunin exams only three months before. One stopped and scanned the dark forest that started just a little more than twenty yards outside the gate. He couldn't see much, the sky was heavy with clouds and it was also past midnight. Not the best time to be using one's eyes. Maybe if they had an Inuzuka or that lazy Jonin. Karashi or whatever the hell his name was.

"Yo! Keitaro! See anything?" his partner called to him. The other man started at the sudden loud noise before rounding on his companion and friend,

"I don't see anything you jackass!" he yelled, "Next time don't sneak up on me like that!"

His buddy snickered, "You call yourself a Chuunin? Damn dude, you're gonna get killed if we ever go to war!" the first ninja rolled his eyes before replying,

"I seem to remember scoring higher that you during the exam, Tora!"

"Yeah, in a proctored test. Whatchya gonna do when the Sound invades again?" That was only a half-joke. After the fiasco during the exam nearly seven or eight years ago, the village had lived in constant, but hidden, fear that the sound would try again. Then again, most shinobi slept with weapons out of habit, so this paranoia wasn't exactly logical.

An unexpected, ominous, rustling in the trees not too far from the Chuunin's position made the two men jump and reach for their kunai and shuriken holsters. Tora made a gesture and their Jounin commander was at their side in an instant.

"Report," he ordered curtly, staring out at the dark blur that were the trees. His pale lavender eyes were trying to pierce the gloom without much success at all.

"Hyuuga-sama, we heard a rustling in the bushes," Keitaro said softly.

"Animal," the nobleman snorted dismissively as he turned to leave. 'Damn these newbies,' he fumed to himself, 'overreacting to a squirrel or something.' The response from the one called Tora stopped him,

"Sir, it was no animal."

"You're sure?" the Jounin asked, pausing almost in mid-step, looking over his shoulder at the two lower ranked ninja.

"Positive sir. Tora's specialty is tracking and target acquisition," the other, Keitaro, if the Hyuuga's memory served, broke in, "You won't find a better tracker outside of the Inuzuka's, sir," at a cold glance from the Jounin, he stammered and hastened to add, "meaning no offense to you, Hyuuga-sama!" as he waved his hands in panic. A hand silenced them both. The forest had gone dead quiet. The kind of quiet that made your hair stand on end. Not that the Jounin's long hair could have done it. The upper-ranked shinobi relaxed, closing his eyes, focusing charka along the pathways leading to his lavender orbs.

"Byakugan," he muttered, his eyes snapping open, the veins very prominent on his temples. The forest went from an inky black blur to standing out in cold, white and black relief. He could see everything, the individual pine needles and leaves, the inner coils of the animals living in the forest…wait; there was a blank spot. His eyes couldn't penetrate it, no matter how hard he tried. It was as if he had never even activated his kekkei genkai. He only knew of a select few with that ability. And only one who could readily fool his keen eyes, but now was not the time to be thinking of Ranmaru.

"There's something out there," he said softly, more to himself than the two other shinobi with him.

"N-Neji-sama?" one of them spoke timidly, "Sir, is anything wrong?" Both jumped when the Jounin spoke up, much louder that he had before,

"Get ANBU," he snapped out, "Tell them we have a possible hostile at the south wall."

"SIR!" both chuunin chorused, and fazed out of his sight. The dark spot once again riveted Neji's attention, and he, the genius he was, began to analyze it.

The whatever-it-was was roughly man-sized and shaped, and that was all he was able to get out of just watching. He could tell it was living, but that was a given. It moved. Yep, definitely live. The Hyuuga watched as the black blob advanced on the wall one slow step at a time. His pulse began to speed up; Neji could feel it pounding against his ribcage. A twig snapped in the forest as the _thing_ continued its advance through the undergrowth. Soft footsteps reached his ears next. They came from behind him, and there was only one pair, but they were soft and stealthy.

'Finally! ANBU is coming,' thought the elite ninja, relief flooding his system. Reinforcements were coming. He was confident in his taijutsu skill, but he _really_ didn't want to tangle with something that could shut down his bloodline with so much ease. The blob suddenly sprinted at the wall. Neji cursed fluently and launched a volley of shuriken at the intruder. The fact that the thing's shadow rippled as it ran didn't escape the Hyuuga, who knew the thing was wearing some type of covering, probably a cloak of some kind.

Akatsuki? No. Naruto wasn't there any more. He had vanished four years ago, after he couldn't bring back the Uchiha. Neji didn't know why the cloaked missing-nins wanted the loud blond so much, but Naruto _had_ told him that the mysterious organization wanted him.

Neji's eyes widened as the blur threw something at him. It wasn't a half-assed throw either. It had deliberately aimed the projectile at him. Whatever it was was soft because the shuriken lodged in it. The next moment, the object blocked his vision and he was forced to quit focusing on the shadow in order to keep himself from being clobbered by the thing. By the time he had caught the fabric wrapped missile and gone back to staring out into the night, the shadow had gone.

'Who was that?' he wondered, deactivating his bloodline, 'and what did they throw?' Now his attention shifted to the bundle he held. As Neji turned the thing over, he began pulling out the throwing stars that had lodged in the fabric and contents. After the last one had been pulled out, Neji noted that the burlap (he had identified the rough cloth as he pulled out the stars) had a dark splotch on it.

"Hyuuga-sama?" a low voice interrupted. Neji turned to regard the cloaked and masked protector of Konohagakure.

"Where are the chuunins I sent to retrieve you?" he questioned with his usual icy and indifferent tone. The ANBU gulped and hesitated. It was well know that the cold Hyuuga, barely twenty, could be well on his way to being a captain in the ANBU now, but he had declined time and time again to continue on with Team Gai.

"I told them to stay put sir," the ANBU muttered, "They told me about the menace, and I figured that they might get in the way if things got hairy."

Neji nodded his approval, "Good. I don't want them to see this," he waved the bundle to illustrate his point, "I don't have a good feeling about it."

"What is it, sir, if I may ask?"

"I don't know. We're about to find out though," responded the jounin as he began to unwrap the strange present. Once it was fully open, Neji still couldn't make out the dark shape in the middle of the burlap. He felt a bit apprehensive though. It didn't take a genius to recognize that the dark splotch he had noted earlier was, in fact, a bloodstain. An old one, but a bloodstain nonetheless. When the moon came out from a brief break in the clouds, the pale silver light illuminated the object. Then something amazing happened. Neji Hyuuga yelled.

"GET THE HOKAGE!! NOW!!"


	2. Contents revealed

Disclaimer: See the prologue.

Last time: Neji Hyuuga is on patrol at the south wall of Konohagakure when a mysterious figure who can block his Byakugan throws him a strange bundle. After seeing what it was, he yells for someone to take him to the Hokage.

This time: The secret of the package is revealed, along with someone who could be of great help to the Leaf. No, it's not Naruto.

Pairings: Still deciding. Leaning toward a Naru/Saku, but I may decide to go with an unusual one like Naru/Ino or Naru/Ten.

* * *

The Hokage was dead tired. Not surprising, seeing as it was something like four in the morning. She had been sleeping peacefully when an ANBU had come by and started pounding on her door, yelling that there was something that she just had to see. 

"Tsunade-sama, you need to stay awake," her assistant Shizune chided softly, "I don't think that Neji-kun, of all people, would wake you up for no reason."

The Godaime Hokage yawned widely and obviously before propping her head on her fist and answering, "This had better be good," the blond haired woman grumbled, "and I mean _real_ good. Like Naruto is back or something." Both women fell silent as they wondered what the boy they both thought of as a little brother was up to now. Or if he was even still alive.

Four years ago, Naruto had finally managed to corner Sasuke and made his attempt to bring the rogue Uchiha back to Konoha and his previous life. The attempt hadn't gone over well at all. Naruto had been brutally beaten and nearly killed. Tsunade grudgingly admitted that, if it hadn't been for the Kyuubi's healing powers, and the timely intervention of Akatsuki, her adopted little brother would be just another soul claimed by the cursed necklace that she had given to him six or seven years ago. Then, the moment he had healed and recovered from the savage beating, Naruto had vanished. That had been the saddest moment Tsunade could remember since Dan died. Even her old teammate Jiraiya had been saddened. The Godaime still hadn't seen the old man since he left in pursuit of his wayward former student.

"Thinking about him?" said Shizune's voice. The slug sannin looked at her, the tourture of Naruto's sudden exodus clearly evident in her hazel eyes. Shizune had lost count of the number of times she had walked past her master's room at night and hear the older woman sobbing softly within. As much as they bickered and fought, the two were siblings in every way but blood.

"I hated having to write his name on the missing-nin list," the Hokage muttered, her voice thick with sadness, longing and self-hatred. "He wanted more than anything to be Hokage, Shizune." The younger woman nodded, everyone had known Naruto's greatest ambition. Anyone who listened to him for even one-and-a-half seconds knew, 'cause the boy was always proclaiming it at the top of his (considerable) lungs.

A soft knock at the door cut all possibility for further conversation. The transformation that went over Tsunade was astounding. In an instant she went from a tired and lost looking, to the stern, but distantly benevolent, Hokage that had been leading the Leaf since the Sandaime died in the Sound's attempted invasion.

"Enter."

At that simple command, the oak doors across from the two women opened and Neji Hyuuga strode into the room, the ANBU who had so rudely awakened Tsunade with him.

Tsunade noted, with some satisfaction, that the ANBU looked extremely nervous. Probably fearing her wrath for not letting her get her beauty sleep. Not that she needed it; her genjutsu kept her looking twenty even though she was in her fifties. Tsunade wasn't known for aging gracefully.

"Hokage-sama," the Hyuuga intoned, nodding his head curtly. Shizune sighed, that was lowest bow they had ever gotten out of the boy to date. She and Sakura had a running bet to see how long it would take for someone to get him to bow, freely or forced, it didn't really matter.

"What do you want Neji-kun," Tsunade demanded roughly. Shizune hid her face in her hand. Her master still had yet to learn the finesse that politics demanded. Did she have the cunning? Oh yes she did. Her grandfather was the Shodai Hokage after all and she was constantly outwitting vengeful debt collectors. But one could have cunning and still be as subtle as a flying anvil. Or Tsunade-sama's fist, whichever caused more damage. Shizune privately thought the fist would win and would turn the anvil into just so much scrap iron.

"Hokage-sama, while on duty for the south wall patrol, my men were spooked by what I initially thought was a wild animal," Neji began, launching into his report, "after being assured that it was no animal, I proceeded to use the Byakugan to try and see who or what was out there…"

"Get to the point," Tsunade grumbled. Shizune gulped, her master's infamous temper was on the rise. And ever since Naruto had left, it had been more prone to boiling that ever. Plus the fact that she had been asleep a grand total of four hours wasn't helping matters one bit. Not even her closest friends were safe when she was as strung out as she was right then. With that truly frightening thought, Shizune took a half step away from her cranky mentor, just in case Tsunade decided to throw something. Like that heavy mahogany desk she was currently seated behind. To his credit, the young Hyuuga prodigy showed no emotion, but then, Shizune reminded herself, he rarely did.

"Yes Hokage-sama," he replied in a monotone then continued, "The intruder was able to hid his or her inner coils from my bloodline." Despite herself, Tsunade felt curiosity ripple underneath the annoyance she was radiating. Very very few people could outright block the legendary All Seeing White Eye.

"I continued to observe the anomaly after I had sent my men to fetch ANBU. Just before the ANBU arrived, the thing charged the wall.."

"Back up!" Tsunade yelled suddenly, shooting to her feet, disbelief etched on her pretty face, "He _charged_ the _wall_!?" Even most foreigners knew that was a death sentence. You never charged Konohagakure's walls. Not unless you had a collective suicide wish or some freaking huge jutsu to get over it with.

Neji nodded, "That's correct."

"What happened?"

"I'm getting to that ma'am," he replied. At the leader's nod, he continued, "He threw this at me," and he held up a rough burlap sack with bloodstains on it.

"That?" Shizune asked incredulously, "Some risked becoming a pincushion for that?" She just didn't get it. No one was _that_ crazy.

Neji shook his head, "Not this. More of what's inside it."

"What's in it?" Tsunade inquired, at which Neji approached her desk and handed her the sack. The Godaime rolled it around before finally locating the knot that held the bag together. It had evidence of being retied. She looked at Neji with a piercing gaze, "You've opened it?"

"Yes Hokage-sama."

"What is it?" the Fire Shadow asked.

"You wouldn't believe me unless you see it for yourself." The Hyuuga answered. That made Tsunade cock an eyebrow. It took a lot to make a Hyuuga, especially _this_ particular Hyuuga, admit to that. He added, "I will say that this will change all of Konoha's policies regarding Oto." That statement made Shizune and Tsunade exchange glances. What could be that earth-shattering?

"Let's see what it is then." Tsunade remarked and undid the knot. The next instant Shizune screamed as the contents of the sack rolled onto the Godaime's desk. Tsunade just stared at what was contained in the burlap sack. "You were right Neji-kun," she said with pure shock and disbelief coloring her tone, "this changes everything. We must take steps to find whoever did this and find out what they know."

"What about the people?" the ANBU spoke up for the first time. When his commander looked at him, he took it as a signal to continue, "Hokage-sama, they fear an invasion. They need to know about this. How are you going to tell them without raising suspicion?"

Tsunade relaxed into the comfortable chair and took a breath that made her ample assets bounce a bit before responding simply, "We don't tell them." Ignoring the shocked looks and outbursts she continued, "This is now classified beyond top secret. Anyone in this room who even _speaks_ of this until I say otherwise will be declared an S-ranked missing-nin and treated accordingly." She glared at everyone with an expression that left no room for argument, "Am I clear?"

"Yes Hokage-sama!" said the three others in the room. After everyone else had left, she gazed at the contents of the sack that still lay on her desk. As she stared at the new development, she had to hand it to whoever managed to pull this off. After all it was not every day that someone just handed you Orochimaru's head. The authenticity still needed to be verified, of course, but the Fifth really believed that it was legitimate. She was willing to bet on it.

The next day had the Tower in an uproar. Tsunade, Shizune, and Sakura had all met and used every medical ninjutsu they knew to try and determine if the grizzly trophy was who it appeared to be.

"It would be just like that bastard to send us a fake just to get our hopes up," Tsunade muttered darkly as she trailed a glowing hand over the head, trying for any slight sign that the head wasn't who it appeared to be. So far, all the tests had pointed to what the Fifth really wanted to believe. Orochimaru was dead.

Sakura straightened up and arched, trying to pop her back, and unintentionally displaying some of the changes that had come over her in the past few years. "That seems a little unnecessary, even for him," she said with a grunt as some of her vertebrae popped.

Her mentor snorted, "This is Orochimaru we're talking about Sakura. You don't know half of what that jackass would do to get his kicks." She could clearly remember him taunting her with the return of Dan and Nawaki if she would just heal his arms. If it hadn't been for Naruto's determination and reminding her of what she had left behind, Tsunade probably would have done it.

"Well Tsunade-sama, I can't find a flap of skin to peel the face off." Shizune commented, "I think it might really be him." The other two women just looked at the slightly desiccated snake sannin's head. They hadn't really examined the thing with any real respect like they would have had it been someone like Kakashi or Jiraiya. And though no one present would admit it, way less respect than Naruto. The face was what they had really avoided. The head's expression wasn't remotely peaceful or bearing the trademark smirk the snake usually wore. Instead, the head had an expression of pure horror. As if Orochimaru had finally seen something to scare even him, as twisted and maniacal as he was.

Sakura spoke, "What now Tsunade-sensei?" At which the Fifth pinched the bridge of her nose, thinking about what to do. Her specialty was in the healing arts, just like the other two. A post-mortem on a decapitated man really wasn't her area of expertise.

"We have no choice," she answered, then reluctantly told them, "We have to take it to an specialist to get the final word. I don't know about you two, but I really don't do post-mortems that often. I'm not exactly good at this." The others nodded in agreement.

"Well Hokage-sama," the doctor said carefully, "I dunno how to say this." He scratched the back of his neck with the other hand resting on his hip in a clearly troubled and puzzled pose, "There is no evidence of tampering with the…uh… body, aside from what you and your assistants did."

"So what you're telling me is…" The Fifth trailed off, hardly daring to believe it. It was too good to be true.

"Yes ma'am." The doc replied. Though he was a civilian doctor, at one point he had been one of Konoha's top hunter-nins. If anyone could confirm the veracity of this head, it was him, "Someone did the Leaf a very big favor. What you have there is a genuine Orochimaru head." He rubbed his brilliant red hair. He had taken so many lives during his time as an ANBU hunter-nin that, after he had retired, he had gone to med school and now put his skills to a truly noble use as one of the few former shinobi who would even use a jutsu again. The way the doc saw it was, you could either leave those deaths on your conscience and have nightmares for the rest of your life or you could atone by saving lives. He had chosen the latter and never regretted his choice for a second.

"Thanks Ken," Tsunade told him, relief and elation clear in her voice, "I knew I could count on you."

The doc smiled at the compliment, "You don't need to thank me. Or tell me this is classified. You have my silence."

"I'll see your clinic gets some extra funding in the near future."

"No, Hokage-sama. Keep your money, I am just happy to help." With that and a final smile, the doc left on his way back to the office. He had given up his lunch hour to help with the request so it wouldn't seem strange of him to leave, even if he was the only doctor in Konoha to make house calls. Problem with that excuse was the calls were infrequent at best and had to be prearranged with his secretary. The lunch had been a tailor-made excuse as long as the examination could happen in less than an hour. It had taken him fifteen minutes to verify the identity and another fifteen to make sure he was correct. If the Leaf was to mobilize and strike at Oto, he wanted to make damn sure the right lives were lost, even if he didn't agree with the method.

Meanwhile, it was all Tsunade could do to keep from jumping into the air and clicking her heels together. It was _true_! _All_ of it! Orochimaru was really truly _dead_! It had gotten to the point where she didn't think he would ever die but he _had_! And hopefully he hadn't transferred to the Uchiha brat. But Ken was the best they had and if he said it was Orochimaru, chances were way up on the odds that it was.

**One Year Later….**

The Fifth was tired. She felt as if she had used her seal. Twice. In a fricking row. Her initial hope that Oto would fall apart and disband after the Snake's death had been wrong. Her security on the situation had also been short lived. Someone had found out the third Sannin's death and leaked word to Konoha's newspaper system, so she had had to tell the people that, yes, Orochimaru was in fact dead and no, she didn't know who had done it. Now reports were surfacing of Leaf nins coming under attack during missions outside the Fire Country. She had asked the Kazekage to look into it for her. Gaara had readily agreed but had warned that they were experiencing a surge in mission requests and the amount of time they had to devote to the search for the cause of the attacks would take quite some time.

She was half tempted to mobilize Konoha's forces right then and lead a genocide campaign on all of Rice to uproot and destroy Otogakure, but she knew that the population of Konoha, which was largely civilians and retired shinobi, would riot at such an act, not to mention what the other villages would do to them for going after Oto with only circumstantial evidence.

Now she turned her attention to the other, more mysterious report on her desk. Her hand reached for the file almost automatically. The report that contained many smaller mission reports with in it, all pertaining to the same subject. The possibility of a Sound missing-nin. This was more rumor than hard fact as most of the incidents involved attacks on the squad in one form or another. What _was_ consistent was that all the teams had been saved from death by the appearance of a cloaked stranger who had a slashed Sound hirai-ate plate mounted on the forehead of his cloak's hood. Kakashi had even had an encounter with the man. The Copy Ninja had claimed to have seen the man fight off some fifteen Sound by himself and not even get a nick in his cloak. The final part of Hatake's report had mentioned, in what was clearly a puzzled tone, that the missing-nin's fighting style had seemed familiar somehow.

"Keep that up and your face will wrinkle even more, Tsunade-hime." The woman in question jumped and hurled the file at the source of the noise. The speaker got smacked full in the face, which made papers go everywhere. Then her eyes widened as she saw who she had nailed.

"Jiraiya!" The Toad Hermit rubbed his face, dislodging one paper that had settled into his snow-white hair. He grinned and it was clear that the man himself hadn't changed much during the five years he had been gone. "When did you get back?" she asked.

"About twenty minutes ago," the other sannin responded. At seeing her hopeful expression, the old pervert sighed, "No sign of him." The Fifth's face fell and tears welled in her eyes, "His trail went cold almost two years ago. I've tried to pick it up and I even asked the sand kid if he's stopped in Suna but no dice."

"Two years?" the Slug Princess repeated dumbfounded. Naruto had gone way underground if he could avoid Jiraiya for five years and keep the trail cold for another two. "Is he still even alive? Did the Akatsuki get him?"

"I wish I knew," said the other, he sighed and looked at the ceiling, "I've checked all the leads I can think of. I even asked Gamabunta if he'd been summoned recently. Apparently Naruto either knows not to use the Summoning Jutsu or just decided to forget. Either way, none of the three toads that Naruto usually calls has been summoned since he left. I do know that Akatsuki doesn't have him."

"How can you be so sure?" the Hokage asked, hope on her face. If Akatsuki didn't have her little brother then his odds of being alive went way up.

Jiraiya laughed at the question, "You're not gonna believe it," he told her, still chuckling. Seeing her raised eyebrow he elaborated, "They asked me."

Tsunade sat bolt upright. "They did _WHAT!?_" she shrieked. She must have heard him wrong.

"Yeah, no joke. They came into the tea shop where I had stopped, sat down and asked me. It was laced with the usual death and dismemberment threats and it wasn't that straight forward but yeah, they asked me where Naruto was. Even ordered tea!" Jiraiya stopped to laugh again.

"What did you tell them?" asked the Fifth. She knew how violent the one called Hoshigaki Kisame and the traitor Uchiha Itachi could get.

"I told them to go to hell and what to do when they got there," he answered, laughing again. For a moment Tsunade joined in after she got the mental image of the three ninjas sitting around a table, making polite conversation while drinking tea.

Abruptly, Jiraiya shifted to serious mode, "So what's this I hear about a missing-nin from Oto?" He watched closely as his teammate and old drinking buddy stopped laughing and fall silent. To the untrained, it looked like she was ignoring him but Jiraiya knew better. She was going to tell him. She was just trying to figure out how.

"We don't know that much," she began slowly, "most of the teams who were saved by him were under such heavy attack that their memories of the incidents are, understandably, shaky at best. Kakashi has had the best look at him, so talking to him would probably be your best option."

"I'll do that then," Jiraiya said, mostly talking out loud. He turned to leave and left Tsunade to her mounting paperwork.

Jiraiya walked down the street that divided the residential district from the entertainment district. Most might think that he was on his way to do 'reasearch' for his little orange books, but this time, for once, that was the farthest thing from the self-proclaimed super pervert's mind. He was looking for a certain sliver haired shinobi. He had no idea where Kakashi's usual hideouts were, but he knew the Jounin generally hung out at the memorial stone, just staring at and reflecting on his teammate's deaths. He really did feel bad for the guy. Jiraiya could remember how his soul felt torn in two when Arashi Namikaze, the legend known as the Yondaime Hokage, used the Shiki Fuuin to seal the Kyuubi into the boy that he would come to regard as a surrogate grandson.

'Little brat,' the Toad Sannin fumed, 'leaving everyone behind to go and do something stupid. I'm gonna kick the shit out of him if he shows his face around Konoha again.' Though his thoughts were full of ominous threats, Jiraiya really was worried about the kid. No, not kid anymore. The blond should be around twenty now. Man, it would be something to see how much the scrawny loudmouth had grown. If there was anything left when he and Tsunade-hime got through with him. And Jiraiya would bet any amount of ryo that that Sakura chick would finish off whatever the two sannin left in one piece.Speak of the devil, there she was. Maybe she would know where the scarecrow was at.

"Sakura!" he called. He saw her stop and look around for who had called her name. It was clear that she didn't know it was him, even though the two had been on a couple of missions together. 'With Naruto,' he remembered painfully. Funny how all his best memories revolved around either the Yondaime or Naruto.

"Jiraiya-sama!" Sakura sounded shocked, "what do you want?"

"Do you know where Kakashi is?" he asked, mentally crossing his fingers. Sakura thought for a moment or two then shrugged.

"I dunno," Jiraiya almost facevaulted but before he could she continued, "try the memorial stone and check his house too. I know he hasn't been sent on a mission because he never came to get an assignment. I know 'cause I was in dispatch all day today. Why?"

"I heard that he had a close encounter with that missing-nin from Oto," the toad user replied, "I just wanted to see what kind of information he can give to me." Sakura nodded her understanding. Being the Hokage's apprentice had some upsides. The biggest one had to be that she occasionally heard some classified material that she wouldn't have access to just being a jounin.

"Good luck."

"Thanks," he answered as he turned to leave. Her voice stopped him one more time,

"Did you find any sign of Naruto?" The sheer amount of hope in her voice at finally getting some wind of the wayward blond after five years almost made Jiraiya want to lie to her and say that he had found him. He decided the truth was better,

"I haven't heard anything about him in two years. The trail went cold around the Mist village." He couldn't look the poor girl in the eyes. Instead he just faced her, his head bowed enough that his hirai-ate hid his eyes in its shadow, "I'm sorry."

Sakura felt her knees hit the ground as the old man walked off. Sure he was a pervert, and she hated perverts, but he had always given off this aura of being an extremely competent shinobi. A few times over the five years the white haired sannin had been gone, she had heard Tsunade-sensei wishing for his spy network. Then that memory was swamped by utter weight of what the old man had told her. He couldn't find Naruto.

'The trail went cold around the Mist village,' she thought numbly, 'first Sasuke-kun, now Naruto. Why do all my friends seem to leave me?' That was too much and she broke down and just started sobbing, the citizens around her noticing but not moving to help because they didn't want to take the time out of their busy schedules and help.

On the other side of the village was a tall man with a mask covering his lower face and a Leaf hirai-ate covering his left eye, leaving him with only his right eye to observe the world around him with. He wore a standard flack vest and black body suit and gloves with metal plates on them, but these were shoved deep into his pockets as he stared at a giant piece of obsidian carved in the shape of something like a cross between a compass rose and a raindrop with a little sundial sprinkled in. His silver hair glinted in the noontime sun. Konoha was rather warm at noon, especially at this time of day and season, but the masked jounin didn't seem to notice the heat. He just kept staring at the stone. At one name in particular, Uchiha Obito. The donor of the Sharingan currently placed in the eye covered by the mask.

"Welcome back Jiraiya-sama," Kakashi spoke abruptly, not even bothering to turn around. Hell, his eye never even left Obito's name. The footsteps were consistent with the traditional wooden shoes that the sannin had worn since the jounin had know him.

"Still stare at the stone for hours on end?" the man in question asked with a tiny laugh. Had it been anyone else, Kakashi would have shown them what it meant to be on the receiving end of a certain jutsu that had yet to be defeated, "You know that has to be some kind of complex."

"I'll let you know when I care," the Copy Ninja replied with no real emotion, "Wanna hear what I did to the last guy to tell me that?" He didn't particularly feel like in a talking mood right then. He was always kind of melancholy after remembering the death of his best friends.

"Not really," Jiraiya laughed, getting an amused snort from the other man. What the toad user said next caught Kakashi totally by surprise, "What I _want_ to hear about is the little encounter you had with a certain Oto missing-nin." The White Fang's son regarded the sannin with his visible eye. In that instant, Jiraiya really hated that damn mask that hid most of the Copy-Nin's face, he couldn't read what Kakashi was thinking through it. Finally, after an eternity, the tall jounin sighed and responded,

"What's there to tell?" he asked, "I was on a mission and got ambushed…"

"We've got him now!" the gray camouflaged and masked Oto nin shouted to his subordinates. Before him was a tired and cut up Sharingan Kakashi. Orochimaru would have been pleased! But unfortunately, a sneaking turncoat had cut their great leader's life short, no doubt wanting to gain favor with the Tsunade whore, "Press the attack!"

Kakashi grunted, the Sharingan in his eye whirling as he watched, memorized, and predicted the large squad's movements. Too bad the eye was really designed for close combat. Wasn't really worth the chakra it took to keep it active, but the Leaf nin had no choice, the alternative was to be dead. He slashed the throat of an enemy who had tried to attack him from above and smacked the corpse over his shoulder in the same motion. He didn't have time to reflect on the victory of cutting the squad down another member and shorting the Sound one less shinobi to use against Konoha in the future.

"GOTCHYA!!" The moment the copy ninja heard the voice, he ducked, snagging the arm of the fool as he sailed over Kakashi's head, then tucked in and pulled, planting the Oto nin in the soil of the forest clearing where they were fighting. Now three ninjas leaped at him and he couldn't throw weapons fast enough to kill all of them.

'Chakra it is,' the lanky shinobi thought grimly. Not the best way to expend his chakra, but he had no choice. His gloved hands flew together, making rapid-fire seals, stopping with the sign for tiger,

"**Katon: Housenka no Jutsu**!" the tiny fireballs lanced from the area of his hidden mouth and struck all three of the leaping shinobi. They screamed as they were hit by the multitude of fireballs, which, upon going out, were revealed to have had shuriken hidden in them. The stars were glowing red from being heated up by the fire jutsu. A sardonic thought wondering if it hurt crossed Hatake's mind briefly before he was once again occupied.

'I am going to run out of chakra,' he thought desperately, just before head Oto made a gesture and an additional ten grey-clad shinobi leapt from their hiding places. 'Scratch that. I'm going to die.'

Kakashi paid dearly for his mental lapse; a blow from one of the new arrivals caught him off guard and the mighty jounin flew through the air to slam into the ground a couple feet away. Dimly he heard the leader cry for his men to kill the Sharingan wielder. The world seemed to stop spinning as he heard the footsteps of the Shinigami coming for his soul.

'Arashi-sensei, Obito, Rin.' One by one his comrades faces flashed by in front of him as Kakashi remembered the team he had lost and felt a little happy that he would see them one more time,

"I don't think so," a new voice said. Kunai flashed from nowhere and impaled every Oto nin in the neck except for the leader. As Hatake struggled back to his feet, a blur streaked from a tree to his left and landed in crouch. It took Kakashi a moment to realize that the figure in front of him had no shape. Then he realized that the stranger was wearing a black traveling cloak that completely hid his form by trailing to within just a few inches of the ground. His cloak's hood was up and when he turned around, Kakashi saw with a start that hood concealed the man's entire face with the exception of his mouth. The cloak's only feature was the slashed Otogakure hirai-ate plate fixed to the area where the man's forehead would have been.

"You alright, Hatake-san?" the man asked. Personally, Kakashi thought that it was more of a demand than a question, but the man was from Oto and was asking about his health. Add in the fact that he had just saved the jounin's ass and he supposed he could let it slide.

"Yeah," the other replied, working his neck to try and get ache that had developed when he had landed from the strike to the jaw. "Just who the hell are you, if you don't mind me asking." The cloaked man snorted softly as he turned back to the only remaining Sound ninja left.

"Just passing through," he replied in a low monotone, "thought I'd give you a hand."

"Thanks," Kakashi said, his gratitude real. He really thanked whatever Kami was watching over him. The deity had sent the right blessing at the right time. "What do you want?" It was obvious the man wanted something because he had risked coming to the aid of a potential hostile. What would the man have done if Kakashi was still in ANBU?

"What do I want?" the missing-nin repeated softly, a low silky tone that promised bad things to his enemies. Kakashi was suddenly glad that that killing intent the stranger was radiating wasn't directed at him. The man continued, "I only want to wipe Otogakure from existence."

"Traitor!" the Oto nin shouted, "Orochimaru-sama granted you a home when you had none! And now you repay us by slaughtering our men and making things diffi…" that was as far as the man got before he was cut off by a kunai embedding itself in his neck.

'From the side!' Kakashi yelled at himself. Just as he thought that, a second cloaked man dropped from the trees. Hatake thought for an instant that there were two Oto missing-nins running around. Then the new arrival poofed out of existence in a cloud of ninja smoke. 'Kage Bunshin. This guy is good. I didn't sense the attack coming or even where the clone was hiding.'

"Later."

The voice made the stunned jounin jump. The man had started to walk away, his cloak rippling in the wind that his movement made.

"Wait!" Kakashi called, and was surprised to see the man actually stop and make a half turn back to him, "why don't you come with me to Konoha? We could use someone who has your experience with the Sound."

It was a moment before the man replied, "Sorry. No. I still have unfinished business with their bastard leader." The man resumed his walk away from the other ninja.

"Who's the leader?" Kakashi yelled after him. The man blurred out of sight, but not before his answer was carried back to him on the wind,

"Uchiha Sasuke."

* * *

And that's all for this one. Yes Sasuke will be the villain for this fic. Don't like it? Oh well. write your own fic. Also, yes everyone's favorite Kazekage will make an appearance, and yes HE WILL KICK ASS and also I do know the Yondaime's name is Minato Namekaze! The way it was written here was no accident. I did that because I prefer the name Arashi over Minato. In an attempt to compromise, I kept his surname the same. 

Jutsu: **Katon: Houksenka no Jutsu: (Fire Style, Phoenix/Mythical Fire Flower). **The user spits out many small fireballs instead of one massive one like in the Grand Fireball Jutsu. Weaker that the Fireball Jutsu, but potentially more useful because the sheer numbers make it harder to dodge and shuriken can also be hidden inside the fireballs. Sasuke used this one against a Rain shinobi in the Forest of Death.

Read and review. I'll update once the next chapter is roughly 5000 words. I won't commit to updating once a week or something like that. I will post the next chapter is at its length reqirement, however long that will take. Sound fair?


	3. The balls begin to roll

Disclaimer: How many times must I repeat myself?! I own NOTHING!

Last time: The package given to Neji turns out to be Orochimaru's head. A retired hunter-nin later verifies the identity of the head as being the real thing. Jiraiya returns to Konoha and tells Tsunade and Sakura that he lost Naruto's trail two years before. Kakashi tells the sannin about his encounter with the rumored Sound missing-nin and also reveals the face of the new leader of Otogakure as being Uchiha Sasuke.

This time: Kakashi and Jiraiya finish their meeting, some charachters make some appearances. Sasuke launches a foolish plan to wipe out Konoha. Kabuto begins to plan to overthrow Sasuke. Akatsuki continues its search for our favorite blond, and the blond himself enters the picture. Now ENJOY!

* * *

Jiraiya just stared at the Copy-Cat ninja as he fell silent, evidently done with his story. He sighed just before he spoke, all of his usual lightheartedness gone,

"Naruto is gonna be pissed." Kakashi just nodded at the statement before he asked a question he had feared since his student and friend had vanished without so much as a good-bye,

"You think he's dead?" the masked ninja asked, almost afraid to hear the answer. Jiraiya shook his head slowly,

"No. I haven't managed to find much of a trail, but all evidence I have has pointed to the strong probability that our favorite pain in the ass is still out there," the older ninja replied. He really hoped so. To lose both Arashi _and_ Naruto? That would make him pull a Tsunade and leave the village.

"How long ago did you lose his trail?" Kakashi inquired. The Hokage had told him that the Toad Hermit had lost the trail two years ago, but something told the masked ninja that Jiraiya was hiding something. His suspicions were confirmed by Jiraiya letting out another sigh and looking at him with guarded eyes,

"I told Tsunade-hime and Sakura-san two years ago," he said slowly. Kakashi had a feeling that the old ninja was about to tell him something so big that he'd even lied to his oldest friend and leader to avoid disclosing it. Kakashi realized that Jiraiya was speaking again, "but the truth is, I lost the trail two and a _half_ years ago. I told the other two just two years because I didn't think that they could handle it."

"That was the wrong thing to do and you know it, Jiraiya-sama," Kakashi told him sternly. "You know that Tsunade-sama will have your hide for wallpaper if she ever finds out." The look Jiraiya gave him told the Copy-Nin that the older man had already thought about all of this. Kakashi shrugged and returned his focus to the memorial stone, focusing on the name of Namikaze Arashi.

Jiraiya, for his part, noticed the lapse of the other shinobi's attention and knew that he was done here. Kakashi was reliving his past again, but the sannin didn't bother to bring him out of it again. He had what he needed. Now his next task would be to try and find this Sound missing-nin and see if he couldn't try and convince him to come to Konoha and tell little Morino Ibiki all he knew. Willing or not didn't matter much to the old ninja and he knew the sadist Ibiki just wouldn't give a damn.

* * *

Far away from these transpiring events, deep in the Rice Country, Uchiha Sasuke, mighty and great leader of the Sound, was busy torturing a poor Leaf ninja who had foolishly wandered into his domain. The man screamed again, a horrible sound that brought a truly evil and insane-looking grin to the avenger's face.

"Now will you tell me of Konoha's defenses?" the Uchiha asked, his voice sickly sweet as he interrogated the writhing shinobi. "If you do, I may make your death quick and painless." Chidori blazed to life in his hand to illustrate his point. It was that annoying pervert Kakashi's only original justu and had been copied by Sasuke and his Sharingan. Ah yes, the almighty Sharingan. The lone Uchiha had long since mastered the bloodline, but had yet to attain the purest form of his kekkei genkai, the Mangenkyou Sharingan. He'd had the Uzumaki bastard in his grasp not too long ago, but somehow, the annoying dead last had somehow survived. And no matter how many of his former allies he captured, tortured, or killed, none could tell him why. So now he was going to break Konohagakure's walls down and raze the only link to his past he had left. The weak Leaf shinobi looked him straight in the eye,

"Go…to….h-hell…Uchi..ha" the man gasped out at him, spitting at him after he had breathed his last, defiant, statement. Sasuke's rage erupted and the Chidori chirping in his hand blazed so bright, the dark room the two were in was dimly illuminated in a pale, flickering, blue light. Next moment and the walls were coated with a dark fluid as the former Konoha-nin slammed his lightning-enhanced fist through the man's stomach. The poor shinobi screamed long and loud. Louder than he'd ever done in the two weeks or so he'd been the Uchiha's plaything. Once the awful sound had died down, Sasuke removed his hand and let the man collapse, his blood dripping off the Uchiha's hand and pooling on the floor.

"KABUTO!" he raged and the traitor poofed in right next to his furious leader. Like he'd done with Orochimaru, Kabuto kept a mask of calm and level-headedness around Sasuke no matter what the man's mood. Yes, man. Five years had aged the Uchiha from just a teenager wanting power, to a man who had it and was going to use it to get what he wanted.

"You called Sasuke-sama?" Kabuto inquired, his voice gentle and subservient. As much as he wanted to kill the arrogant bastard and take the leadership of the Sound for himself, Kabuto knew that it was no longer possible. Sasuke was potentially even stronger than his twisted one-time master had been. If that was true, the Leaf and the fool who led them, Tsunade, wouldn't be able to withstand the destruction the spoiled missing-nin so desperately wanted to unleash on them.

"Mobilize our army!" the brat growled. He would do what the cowardly snake couldn't do and raze the Leaf from existence! Then, once the last connection to his past had been utterly destroyed and stricken from history, Sasuke would hunt down his brother and turn that smirk into a small pile of lightning-crisped ash! "We will march on the Leaf as soon as we can!"

Shock coursed through Kabuto. Was the brat so eager to lead them all to their deaths? All the Leaf shinobi that Sasuke had personally tortured had told him nothing! Marching on Konoha would be a suicidal endeavor!

"Sasuke-sama, I must protest!" the med-nin exclaimed, "You know nothing of the Leaf village's defenses! We will be exterminated by the ANBU like so many annoying mosquitoes!" He quailed under the furious gaze of the Sharingan.

"That is why I will kill the Hokage in a one-on-one duel. Then the Leaf will be forced to retreat into their own demise where we will KILL THEM ALL!" Kabuto mentally shook his head at the foolish, _insane_, plan, the Leaf would be galvanized by the death of Tsunade and fight back even harder! That didn't even take into account the villages usual tanks, like the Hyuugas, especially that damn brat Neji, Jiraiya-sama and Kakashi, the fashion-challenged fool Maito Gai and his equally powerful student Rock Lee! Plus, even though Tsunade was old, she had _two_ loyal students, one who had learned her inhumanly powerful strength! They would be the ones who would be wiped out, not Konohagakure!

"You will mobilize all our forces." Sasuke said in a low voice. "We move in three days. No less." He gestured with a blood-coated hand and Kabuto bowed low before using Shunshin no Jutsu to get the various balls rolling. He would have to come up with a strategy, since their supposedly great leader had none. Kabuto smiled evilly as he sprinted through the halls of their underground haven. Maybe he could use this as a way to catapult himself to the top and wipe out Konohagakure no Sato in one fell swoop!

* * *

Deep within the barren and dry Wind Country, a panda-eyed man with teal eyes and red hair stopped and turned to face the wind that was howling across the sand dunes.

'There is a foul scent on the wind. Something is about to transpire that will shake the world,' he thought, his mind blissfully free from any adverse pressure from the demon who used to reside within him. Now, Shukaku was gone, taken by the Akatsuki, leaving Gaara of the Desert in full command of his body, mind, and sanity for the first time in his life. His two companions, his puppet-using brother Kankuro and his wind-manipulating sister, Temari, both stopped walking and turned to look at their younger brother, who had abruptly stopped walking and was staring into the hot and gritty wind with no real outward sign he noticed the fine sand grains in the wind peppering his skin.

"Gaara?" Temari asked, exchanging a puzzled glance with Kankuro. Temari had matured in recent years. She no longer got so pissed off during a battle and wore a loose white top that showed her cleavage, covered by a fishnet under layer. A blue sash kept her shirt from blowing around too much and also held her massive fan. Her loose skirt came to mid-thigh and was functional enough for her to wear it and not have it restrict her movement so much. She knew that all the jumping around shinobi did would give the eager watcher many chances to observe her underwear so she wore her old black compression shorts under the skirt to take away the flashing issue.

"What's up?" Kankuro prodded, trying to get an answer out of their stoic little brother. He was a puppet master now and so no longer painted his face. He also had quit wearing his Suna hirai-ate like a hood, instead wearing it the standard shinobi way, around the forehead, allowing his shaggy brown hair to spill over it in a way that didn't look that bad all. At least that's what the girls of the village kept telling him. He himself didn't really care. So he said.

"We're returning to Suna," Gaara said tonelessly, turning his back on the other two and beginning to walk back towards Suna, nearly three-and-a-half days away.

"Gaara!" the two other Sand siblings yelled, shocked and outraged that their Kazekage would drag them all the way out to this Kami-forsaken area of Wind Country to train only turn back, when their destination was just coming into view; a little oasis that was far off the beaten path so no one would interrupt. Gaara had even gone as far as to leave Baki in charge so he could get away from his Kazekage duties long enough for the trio to spend some time beating on each other.

The Godaime Kazekage had been actually learning other jutsu and was getting to be quite proficient with them, and was also starting to pick up some decent taijutsu moves to boot. Since Gaara's demon had been extracted, his sand, while still powerful, wasn't nearly as effective as before and his sand shield didn't respond to attacks automatically. On the plus side though, all of the former Jinchuuriki's dangerous and deadly sand justu were still usable, so the man wasn't completely starting over.

"Why are we going back!?" Kankuro howled at his little brother's retreating back. "We're nearly there now and Baki has things handled back home! This is the first time you've had time off for months and you're just going to go back?" Temari couldn't understand it either but then Gaara seemed to be in one of his moods, so it would be would be tough getting a straight answer out of him. He also had a tendency to revert to his old kill-first-ask-later personality.

"Careful, Kankuro," Temari warned, "He's in one of his moods. You know how he gets." Kankuro paled visibly and started watching Gaara for signs of swirling sand grains near that massive gourd on his back. Gaara, for his part, didn't do anything, but just kept walking, but his voice did manage to reach them, even if he was almost out of earshot,

"I have a bad feeling. Something's about to happen. We need to prepare," the red head replied simply as he continued his trek back to Suna.

The other two exchanged glances and sprinted to catch up with him. Even if Gaara was acting on a hunch, his hunches about stuff like this generally turned out to be right. Temari could only hope that Uzumaki Naruto wasn't in trouble, because if he was, then whoever had messed with Gaara's best and first friend would feel the wrath of one very pissed Jinchuuriki.

* * *

"All forces are ready to move on your signal, Sasuke-sama," Kabuto said in his usual arrogant voice. Sasuke nodded curtly as he strapped on Kusanagi and a black, pocketless flack vest. He adjusted the vest and stepped to the edge of the balcony that overlooked the huge room that was serving as the staging area for his glorious invasion of Konohagakure. At the sight their leader, the entire army burst out into chants and cheers.

"We move in two hours, not a minute later," Sasuke said icily as he acknowledged the cheers. It was important for the troops to be psyched up, otherwise they would falter and fail the moment Tsunade set foot on the battlefield. "Make it happen or I will end your miserable life."

Kabuto fought hard to avoid gnashing his teeth at the brat's misplaced arrogance as he responded with a submissive "Yes Sasuke-sama," and departed to find the commanders of the army so they could get this doomed show on the road.

'Enjoy your puffed up power play while you can you bastard,' he though, smiling as he envisioned Sasuke getting his ass handed to him by the kunoichi sannin. 'You're death will be my chance to rise to the head of this rats nest and make it a true fighting force!' He began to laugh to himself as he walked down the halls, continued daydreams of a dead Sasuke and a conquered world dancing in his mind's eye.

An hour and fifty minutes later, the massive army of Otogakure spewed forth from the concealed entrance to the underground fortress like so many locusts, setting a course for Fire Country with the intent on seeing it live up to its namesake and burn.

* * *

On the plains of Grass Country, two men with slashed hirai-ates and black jacket-like cloaks with red clouds all over them stopped walking and stared at the dark blur in the distance that marked where the Grass Country ended and Fire Country began. The dark blur was where the huge redwood forests of western portion of that nation and covered the whole nation. The shorter of the two stopped and squinted as the wind blew his long black bangs into his face. The other one looked unusually like a shark that had decided to leave the sea and walk on land. His real defining feature was the giant, bandage-wrapped, sword strapped to his back. Hoshigaki Kisame watched his partner within the Akatsuki carefully. It was hard to read him on the best of days, and today was no different. He wanted what they would do about the Oto army headed for Konoha, but asking Itachi when he was like this was like asking for him to run his hand through your chest, but Kisame hadn't gotten where he was by being timid and not taking chances so he asked,

"What are we gonna do about that army, Itachi?" he asked, "If Sasori's spy is telling the truth, then there's a good chance that Konoha will be destroyed and we'll never find the fox brat." The dead Akatsuki's spy had continued to provide good information to them, so they had allowed him to remain in his current station. Now the shark man was wondering if the red-eyed prodigy from Konoha was going to kill him for interrupting his thoughts.

"You truly are a fool," Itachi murmured in his usual monotone. "The Sound is marching straight into their own demise. My extraordinarily stupid little brother is going to die and Konohagakure will endure to fight another day." He resumed his walk, his Sharingan flitting in the direction he knew his former village to be and turned his back to it and headed off in another direction. "Come Kisame, we must find Naruto-kun sometime before the turn of the next century."

"You're not kidding Itachi. Where the hell did that brat go?" the other cloaked man wondered to himself. The last thing he had expected out of the stoic Uchiha was a response.

"That is what we must find out," he said in his soft voice. "If he can fool even that pervert sannin, he must have improved his skills immensely over the past five years. We must be cautious or he may find a way to kill us." Kisame blinked owlishly, shocked that he'd actually be answered and lived to tell about it, before taking a couple bounding steps to catch up to his partner before Itachi left him behind.

* * *

A few miles south of the two missing-nins, a border patrol was moving near the road that divided the two countries. One of them had a massive white dog the size of a horse. It let out a booming bark and the patrol halted. Akamaru started to sniff into the wind and let out a softer yip than his body should have allowed.

"What do you mean you smell Sasuke?" Inuzuka Kiba asked his pet, tool and partner. "He hasn't been seen in Fire Country since he left!" Akamaru whimpered and nudged his master with his nose. Kiba absently scratched his massive dog's muzzle as he sniffed the air himself, putting his famed nose to work.

The twenty-year-old hadn't changed much since Naruto had left, but he had lost his jacket in exchange for a sleeveless black tee-shirt and black pants with the standard shinobi accessories. He hated border patrol, but Kurenai had insisted on getting her old team together for a mission to relive the old days when they had been newbie genin just starting out on the path of the ninja.

"What is wrong with Akamaru?" Aburame Shino asked, his voice giving away nothing. The man had kept the same outfit he'd had five years ago. No surprise, seeing as Shino himself rarely did anything that was radical. The only change to him was his sunglasses. Now they were streamlined and sleek, but Kiba privately thought that they were even darker that the other two pairs, if that was even possible.

"Dunno. He says he smells Sasuke, but I don't smell anything at all," the other shinobi answered. Kurenai came over to see what the two boys were talking about.

"What's wrong?" She asked, her crimson eyes flicking from one to the other. Kurenai hadn't changed her look at all. Kiba knew it was one of her ways of holding on to Asuma's memory. She had even given her little boy his shirt with the kanji for fire on it.

"Akamaru claims to have scented Uchiha Sasuke," Shino stated. "Kiba smells nothing." Kurenai allowed her skepticism to show on her face. Kiba usually could pick up the smells Akamaru found with no real problem.

"Are you sure, Akamaru?" She asked, questioning the dog directly. She had learned long ago that the dog was nearly human. And given that one of Kiba's relatives had a dog that _could_ talk, Kurenai believed that dogs were more human than they appeared. Just look at one of Kakashi's ninken, Pakkun. The dog whimpered and barked again.

"He says he's sure of it," Kiba translated, clearly puzzled by his lack of being able to pick up the scent. The Inuzuka really wished that Hinata was there right at that moment, but the shy girl had been married off to some minor, but wealthy, lord by her father in order to bring more revenue into Konoha so they weren't as dependent on missions so, even if they lost a lot of shinobi like during the invasion, they could still function.

Just thinking about what the Hyuuga's head had done made his blood boil. But, if the rumors were true, that had been _nothing_ compared to her cousin Neji's fury. The rumor said that Hiashi had been forced to activate Neji's seal to keep the Branch member from killing him during a vicious sparring match.

"It is unfortunate that Hinata is not here right now," Shino murmured softly, the stoic boy unknowingly voicing Kiba's unspoken wish. Kiba started to agree with the bug user, but Akamaru suddenly started growling in a low, tense, tone. That didn't need any translation by Kiba. In a flash, all three were in a defensive stance with weapons in their hands, straining to see the enemy. Kiba's nose suddenly twitched. His eyes widened as he caught the scent of too many people to count.

"SHIT!" he yelled, finally picking up what Akamaru had been so insistent on. "We gotta get outta here now!"

"Why?" Kurenai demanded, her hands already moving, making seal after seal as she set up genjutsu traps all around them to slow down whatever was coming.

"There's an army coming!" Kiba cried, "That's why I couldn't pick up Sasuke-bastard's scent. It was hidden by nature and by all the other smells!" The patrol wasted no time in shooting back to Konoha as fast as they could, Kiba flipping his teammates soldier pills so they would be able to keep up the pace.

As they ran, Kurenai scribbled down a hasty message, addressed it directly to Tsunade-sama, and tossed it to Akamaru, who caught it in his mouth and sprinted on ahead, moving faster than any of the three humans could have managed.

* * *

Deep within the inhospitable mountains of the aptly named Mountain Country, a tall man with long, shaggy, spiky blond hair and haunted blue eyes stared out the flimsy window of the ramshackle shack he had been living in for the last year. There was currently a whiteout blizzard going on, but the man didn't even feel it, probably because of the fire that blazed in the field stone hearth behind him. He reached up and scratched an itch on his cheek. When his hand lowered, it revealed three whisker-like marks on his cheek, which matched the other three on the other side.

Yes, this was Uzumaki Naruto, after five years of being away from his friends. Well, almost all. He'd made a new friend, if one really stretched the definition. More like a trustable ally, but the Jinchuuriki knew that the fox was just happy to get out of its cage.

'**I resent that,' **came from inside his mind, dripping with pretend hurt. **'Why don't you like me? Do you want me to **_**leave**_**?'** The corner of Naruto's mouth quirked upward a hair. Being away from his friends had really stolen a lot of the light that the formerly hyper and rambunctious blond used to radiate. The fox seemed to have taken it upon himself to try and make him laugh, even if Naruto would become much more cheerful when he was surrounded by people.

'You and I both know you can't do that,' the blond replied, turning his attention inward on himself. He found himself standing in a large room with pipes snaking all over the ceiling and a view of the outside world floating in the air in front of him. He looked to his right and saw the massive Kyuubi no Yoko watching him with one massive red eye. Red and blue chakra swirled around their feet, making a transparent haze that showed the ankle deep water that rippled when it met the pair's bodies.

'**Hmph,'** the nine-tails snorted, **'I could break out, now that I'm not locked in that cage like some pathetic puppy.'**

'Yeah, and kill us both in the process.' Naruto answered. He knew that the fox wouldn't try to escape due to their inner coils being as meshed together as they were. That was how the fox had gotten out in the first place. Their coils had merged, strengthening them both and rendering the Yondiame's seal unnecessary because now Naruto _was_ the seal. So now Kyuubi was able to walk through his body at his leisure and take control whenever he wanted, though the two had worked out an agreement that made them both happy.

The agreement was that Kyuubi would lend Naruto his considerable chakra in return for being able to control Naruto occasionally. That had led to the duo watching their surroundings when the other was in control. That wasn't a foolproof solution to the ambush as it was only as effective as Naruto's senses and they couldn't stare out the back of Naruto's skull. No, they had to rely on the other senses, like smell and hearing. Which were almost as good as Kiba's now. Naruto could still be ambushed, but it was _very_ hard to do and, with his ally and stamina, could fight for a very long time.

In an attempt to keep making themselves stronger and also to strengthen their bond, the pair had created a few jutsu that were very powerful and could only be pulled off by another Jinchuuriki. Kyuubi had even shown him a few of the demon's jutsu. Turns out that demons had their own version of the ninja arts. A lot of it depended on the demon's own power and skill, but they did have them. The Tenma Fuu had to be the most dangerous. They were demon seals that could do anything within the crafting demon's abilities. An example would be saying that Kyuubi was a master seal crafter and, with his stupendous power, could get the seals to do damn near anything.

Shukaku, for a comparison, could have the same skill level as Kyuubi but, being weaker than the Nine-Tails, wouldn't be able to do nearly as much. Or the opposite could be true, a demon could have the same amount of power as Kyuubi, but not have the skill. It made Naruto's head hurt and he generally let the fox handle the seals, but the demon had insisted that Naruto learn one or two simple ones so his host could give himself an advantage in combat. No use in having that much power and having one of them unable to use it. Conversely, when Kyuubi was in control, he needed Naruto's chakra to make human jutsu work. He could use his own youki, but the more potent demon chakra tended to overstress their shared body.

To Kyuubi's great delight, the two had discovered that human and demon chakra repelled each other. Their _coils_ had merged, but their chakra had remained two very different, distinct entities. They had also discovered that while, Kyuubi was normally in the back of Naruto's mind, he still had control over his chakra. The same held true when Naruto was in the passenger seat. In other words, even though one was dominant, the other could control their own chakra.

A deadly effective jutsu they had developed was for Naruto to make his chakra hold itself very tightly against his skin while Kyuubi put _his_ ontop of the human chakra layer. The result was Naruto's complete access to _all_ of Kyuubi's chakra, even though the more chakra Kyuubi supplied, the more he was in control. It all depended on who's chakra was dominant. When Naruto's chakra was dominant, Naruto was in charge. When the youki was dominant, Kyuubi was in command. They could switch back and forth willingly, and so that kept that unpredictability. You could be fighting Naruto one moment, then be torn apart by Kyuubi's vicious assault the next.

The overall effect of these changes on Naruto and Kyuubi was almost incomprehensible. The foolish little boy of years past was gone, and in his place had come a very dangerous, powerful, and competent shinobi.

'**So what do you want to do now?'** the demon asked now. **'The Uchiha brat is on the move. We saw that when we were at the hideout a couple of days ago.'** The primary reason Naruto had even chosen this piece of crap hut was because Mountain Country had a great location. It bordered both Rice and Fire Countries, allowing him to intercept any Oto nins deciding to make trouble for Konoha.

The pair had paid a visit to the hidden lair that Orochimaru had used before his demise and Sasuke had been dumb enough to keep using, only to find it completely and utterly deserted and signs of massive troop movement in the countryside immediately around the stronghold. The trail had pointed straight at Fire Country. Naruto didn't need to be a genius or have the Kyuubi's input to know that his former friend was planning on invading Konoha.

'We will move as well. I've done all I can to try and bring Sasuke back. I realize now that some promises cannot be kept,' Naruto answered. 'We'll kill Sasuke and I'll apologize to Sakura-chan.' His demon tenant rolled his eyes at that. The brat still held feelings for the pink-haired vixen. He should move on to a worthier mate, like the Shukaku vessel's sister.

'Gross. Why would I want to get it on with a girl like her?' Naruto asked, a look of true disgust on his face. Temari-san wasn't that bad, but if Naruto got into a relationship with her, then hurt her, Gaara would kill him, friendship or no.

'**Admit it, Brat,'** Kyuubi shot back, preparing himself for a rather enjoyable battle of wits with his host. **'She would be a much better mate than the pink-hair.'**

'Yeah right,' Naruto snorted, 'You're forgetting that Baa-chan taught Sakura-chan how to use that damn strength of hers.' Kyuubi looked away. He _had_ forgotten that little detail, but his pride would never allow him to acknowledge it.

'**But the Sand girl would be able to blow your precious Sakura-chan all the way to Wave Country before she could get close.'** The demon returned. Ha! Let's see his host get out of this one!

'Maybe the old Sakura-chan,' the blond host said with a small grin. 'But you've seen Sakura-chan fight since Baa-chan got through with her! And I'll bet the necklace that she's kept it up.' Ah crap, the brat found a way out of it. Kyuubi had to admit that the boy had gotten sharper in the five years they had been training and fighting. 'Look, we've gotta get going if we want to help Konoha stop Sasuke from wiping them out.'

'**Are you sure you're ready to face him? He did nearly kill you last time. If it hadn't been for the cult humans and myself, you wouldn't be here.'** All humor and banter was gone. It was time to be serious.

'I'm as ready as I can be, Kyuubi,' the blond missing-nin replied. Kyuubi's massive eye looked down at him, genuine concern for him clear in the crimson orb. He may hate humans in general, but his time within the brat had taught the demon lord that not all humans were just ants to be stepped on.

The fox had decided to defend Naruto's friends just as fiercely as the blond himself. Though only the brat's friends. All the rest had better get the hell out of his way when he was in control, or suffer Kyuubi's…displeasure.

'**Naruto. You know you will have to kill the Uchiha brat,'** the fox reminded, purposely using Naruto's name. That was one of the ways Naruto knew his tenant was serious. Usually the pair called each other names like furball or brat.

'Yeah. I know. I swore I would do that a while ago. Or did you forget?' Naruto's answer was sarcastic.

'**FOOL! I forget NOTHING!'** the fox demon roared, though his anger wasn't real. It was all part of the comedy routine that the two liked to engage in. After all, they were both fond of pranks and practical jokes.

Naruto clapped his hands over his ears, stammering something about headaches and demons who should be more considerate of their host's sanity, before becoming aware of the world around him once again.

He turned to the mound of belongings and shinobi gear sitting by the door. The blizzard had died out somewhat, allowing the Jinchuuriki to clearly see the cliff edge on which his little haven sat. Naruto strapped on the gear and pulled a little something on to keep him warm as he bounded out of the hut. As the snow began to kick up, the former Leaf shinobi bounced from lip to lip on the jagged cliff, his cloak rippling and snapping in the freezing wind.

* * *

CUT! PRINT! THAT'S A WRAP!

So now Naruto has entered the picture and is now on his way to stop the Sound army. No worries, he won't be evil. The reason for why he left will be explained either next chapter or in the following few. To all you Hinata fans out there, fear not! While she's not one of my favorites, I don't hate her like some people do. She will get her time. Just not right now.

Read and Review, as always. Also a big thanks to those who have put this story on their favorites/alert list.


	4. And so it begins

Disclaimer: Own nothing.

Last time: Jiraiya leaves to go after the Sound missing-nin. Sasuke and the Oto army leave for the invasion of Konoha. The Sand siblings, on a training journey, turn back for Suna when Gaara has a bad feeling that something is about to happen. Kiba, Shino, and Kurenai, on patrol along the border, catch the first sign of the Oto army and Akamaru goes on ahead to deliver a letter and Naruto, knowing of the invasion, prepares to resurface and help out his former village.

This time: The invasion begins.

* * *

Tsunade was fustrated. How could she not be? She had a Sound missing-nin running around saving her shinobi, but refused to actually _come_ Konoha to tell all that he knew. Jiraiya had left the village in order to go and try to find him and either, according to the Toad Hermit, bring him to Konoha or force him into the village, whichever was easier. Ibiki already had a room in ANBU headquarters with the man's name on it. Plus there was the paperwork. How the _hell_ had Sarutobi-sensei managed to slog through this mess and retain his sanity? She was close to using a Katon justu on the huge mound of papers clogging her in-tray.

Just as the Hokage reached for another mission report, something shot through her open window in a blur of white fur and wind that sent her, for once neat, desk straight to messy hell again.

"What is going on!?" She bellowed at the massive white mound sitting in the middle of her office.

"Hokage-sama! Are you alright?" her ANBU guards yelled, bursting through double doors so hard that they bounced off the walls. Tsunade, for her part, ignored the guards, focusing instead on the massive dog that sitting in the middle of her office, wagging his tail, evidently very pleased with himself.

"Akamaru?" The village leader asked skeptically. She knew to whom the dog belonged, but Kiba was away with Kurenai and Shino on a mission. The Inuzuka wouldn't have sent his best tool back unless he had a very serious reason. Then the sannin noticed the tiny scroll that the horse-sized dog had in his mouth.

The massive dog approached her and deposited the scroll at her feet. Stooping to retrieve it, she was amazed at how _dry_ the thing was, considering the dog had had it in his mouth. She cracked the scroll's seal, feeling a little concerned. The little paper roll had a priority seal on it. It wasn't in wax, like protocol demanded, but Kurenai had drawn the kanji on the outside of the scroll. Inside was a short, curt, message,

_Hokage-sama,_

_Kiba, Akamaru, scented Otogakure army headed for village. On our way back. Uchiha Sasuke leading army. Please take defensive measures._

_Yuuhi Kurenai,_

_15__th__ border squad leader._

The Hokage felt the blood drain from her face as she finished reading the short message. The ANBU weren't the elite of Konoha for nothing, and quickly noticed her pallor.

"Hokage…sama?" One with a boar mask asked, his hesitance clear in his voice. The pair of special ops shinobi jumped when she suddenly began snapping orders,

"One of you go get the council together for an emergency meeting! The other, gather the jounins and ANBU command staff for a briefing. We have an invasion coming from the border! They'll be here in three days!" As the two masked shinobi poofed out to perform their assigned tasks, Tsunade prepared herself for the first invasion to happen under her tenure as Hokage. She hoped she would make the right descisons and keep Konoha intact and its casualties to a minimum. Kami-sama knew that she had had a lot of loss in her life, and she didn't want anyone else to suffer as she had.

As she left her office to brief the council and various members of Konoha's military arm, she paused briefly to tell Kotetsu to send a letter to Sunagakure and the Kazekage. They would need reinforcements, no matter how long it took to reach them. Now she had to prepare her village for war.

* * *

Northeast of Fire Country, in the country that was almost entirely mountains, Jiraiya the Toad Hermit stopped dead in his tracks. He had been on the trail of the Sound missing-nin since hearing Kakashi's story about meeting the man. Yes, Jiraiya was certain that the missing-nin was male. Maybe he was a little sexist, but somehow the toad user knew the mysterious shinobi to be a man.

And that same questionable instinct had been screaming at him that he was close to another breakthrough. Either that or that sushi he'd had yesterday was acting up. Jiraiya shrugged and continued on his way, not even bothering to glance up. If he had, he would have seen a cloaked man standing upside-down on the rock that jutted out over the pass the old man was currently strolling through. He wouldn't find out until later, but he'd just been closer to Naruto than anyone from Konohagakure had been for the last five years.

'**Missed you chance, Kit,'** came the voice of his literal inner demon. **'You could've told the toad pervert what the hell is going on.'** Naruto sighed at the fox's insistence that he talk to the man he regarded as his grandfather.

'Wow, I thought you were a smart demon. I'm a _missing-nin _dumbass,' he replied, still watching Ero-sennin walk away, completely unaware of his close proximity of his former student. Though it had been a near miss. If Kyuubi hadn't scented him as Naruto was running along the pass, the two would have butted heads in a very literal way.

'**What does the missing-nin stuff have to do with anything?'** the fox returned shortly. **'You know that the old man wouldn't give a damn.'** The demon lord just sighed when Naruto didn't respond; instead just dropping from the ledge he had been standing on (under?) to continue the trek to Konoha. The fox, however, wouldn't be denied,

'**He's heading away from that damn village. You really going to let one of the strongest shinobi in the place just walk away? Especially with the Uchiha bastard being as strong as he is?'** That froze Naruto cold. He hadn't thought of that. Kyuubi snorted. Nice to know the kid had kept at least a little of his stupidity. Made the fox demon look better.

"What do we do?" he asked out loud. He felt a shift in the youki within him, Kyuubi's version of a shrug.

'**Tell him,'** the fox suggested, plowing ahead before Naruto could protest,** 'You don't have to show him your face!'** Naruto grinned with his shit-eating fox grin, something he hadn't done for almost three years, not since that time the duo had taken a day off to play pranks on a pompous minor lord in a small village in north Wind Country.

Jiraiya hummed placidly as he walked along the narrow mountain pass on his way to the place where Kakashi had encountered the missing-nin. To do that he had to cut through Mountain Country and that was always a pain in the ass. Especially at his age. Old men were meant to take it easy, writing books! Not go tramping around half the continent looking for someone that… His mental rant was cut short by the sound of shifting around behind him. The white-haired sannin whirled to confront the noise. There was no one behind him. The left and right were clear. So that left…ABOVE! Jiraiya's head snapped up and saw him. Crouching on the top of the pass wall above the old ninja, his cloak flaring across his body in the wind, was the Sound missing-nin.

* * *

"This is a most grave situation, Tsunade-sama," said one of the old council members. Tsunade hated dealing with the old farts. They were always, with the exception of two of Sarutobi-sensei's closer aids, trying to undermine her in attempt after attempt to further their own ends. Especially that bastard who commanded ROOT.

"We must come up with a plan to counter the attack," agreed another. "I'm sure Uchiha-san is just misguided." Tsunade cut the old man off with a snort. Uchiha misguided? Yeah right. He had accepted the Curse Seal without hesitation and had put his fist through Naruto's lung not too long after. Misguided her ass. The council, desperate to have one of their most potent kekkei genkai back in Konoha, had even decided to label him a C-class missing nin with a no hostilities order.

Tsunade knew that the traitor wouldn't hesitate to kill the shinobi sent after him, so she had added a provision to the order that the ANBU could kill Sasuke if the situation warranted such a measure. By contrast, her adoptive little brother had been slapped with an S designation and was to be killed on sight. The Fire Shadow hadn't wanted that to happen, but even the Hokage was only allowed to force a missing-nin declaration down one class, so she had labeled him A-rank and put a no hostilities order on the declaration to boot.

"What we _need_ to do," the Slug Princess cut in, her tone telling everyone to just shut up and let her speak, "is set up a defensive line around Konoha. Then we evacuate all civilians, non-essential personnel and genin and academy students into the shelters."

"Tsunade-sama," Hyuuga Hiashi said with his usual holier-than-thou attitude. "Are you sure that is the right course of action?" The Hokage nodded, knowing that they would have to meet the assault right at Konoha's gates. A potentially fatal error, allowing the enemy to get that close to the village gates, but they had no choice because there was just no _time_.

Sasuke had done a good job of keeping his army hidden. A day had passed since Akamaru delivered Kurenai's message, but none of the ANBU patrols had seen the Oto horde. Still, Tsunade knew that they were out there, and that was all she needed to know. Hiashi returned the nod, confident that his clan would perform splendidly in the defense of their village.

"We don't have much choice," agreed Kakashi, nodding. The jounin had shocked everyone by showing up _early_ for once.

"My Eternal Rival is correct!" Maito Gai's voice blared at top volume as usual. "We will show these riffraff what the Fire of Youth is all about!"

"YOSH! Gai-sensei is correct! We cannot turn away, just because the fools want to meet Shinigami before their youth has run its course!" shouted the jounin's clone, Rock Lee. The young man was there because he was a Special Jounin, due to his inability to use chakra.

"Lee!" Gai cried, tears flooding down his cheeks as he enveloped his apprentice in a hug.

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sen…" Lee was cut off by an orange book entitled 'Icha Icha Paradise' smacked the exuberant special jounin in the back of the head.

"If we could get back on topic," Kakashi hinted pointedly as his hand returned to his pocket. "Our time before Sasuke and Otogakure get here is running out, even now. The less time we spend on needless talking and," here he glared at the council, "political posturing, the better." Everyone present nodded and plans for the defense of Konohagakure continued to be made at a much speedier pace.

* * *

Back in Mountain Country, Jiraiya and the Sound missing-nin hurtled side by side down the pass, both on their way to Konoha to help out in the impending assault.

"Why did you go out of your way to find me?" Jiraiya asked, as the two began to descend the foothills and out onto the rolling slopes that led to the forests of Fire Country. Even now, the forest was visible in the distance as a wide dark blur that stretched for miles. The missing-nin didn't even look at him as the pair hurtled toward the village.

"My conscience wouldn't leave me the hell alone," he replied simply. The man had begun to talk more and more as the two shinobi got used to each other's presence. The Sound traitor winced as though something inside him hurt.

"You OK?" the sannin asked, noticing the younger man's twitch. The hooded ninja just nodded. He was trying to ignore the demon that kept telling him 'I told you so' over and over and over again.

Naruto couldn't believe that he had decided to go with Kyuubi's harebrained scheme.

'**Who're you calling harebrained, Kit,'** the fox grumbled. But the scam had worked! They had managed to get Ero-sennin to turn his old ass around and get moving back to Konoha. Now all the two shinobi had to do was get back to the village before Sasuke was able to overrun them. After that, who knew? Maybe if Naruto fought well enough, Baa-chan would let him be a Konoha-nin again.

'**You honestly think that the big chested woman will **_**refuse**_** to let you back into that damn village?'** the Kyuubi snorted derisively. Sometimes, his cage could worry about the stupidest things. **'She would probably keep you tied up to make sure you didn't leave again!'** Naruto felt oddly comforted by the giant demon's words. Yeah, maybe Granny Tsunade would keep him around! If not, well, maybe Gaara was hiring.

* * *

Speaking of Gaara, the insomniac Kazekage had made it back to Suna and was pacing in his office, still trying to shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

"Hey, uh, Gaara?" Kankuro asked nervously. Gaara had sent more than one aide out the door on a tsunami of sand in recent weeks. Now no one approached the Kazekage office except for Temari, Kankuro, and Baki. "Are you sure that something's going to happen." He paled visibly at Gaara's annoyed, icy teal gaze. He had to look at his feet. How could he not? He'd spent most of his childhood fearing that look.

"Don't you think that you're over reacting?" Temari picked up quickly. "You won't eat and you quit sleeping again." Gaara had finally managed to get to sleep now that Shukaku was gone from his body, but when he got nervous, he reverted to old habits and turned into an insomniac again. Temari's question was answered for her when Baki hurtled through the door waving a scroll with the symbol for fire written on it.

"Kazekage-sama!" their former jounin instructor cried, clearly panicked. "Konohagakure is being invaded by the Sound! The Hokage is requesting reinforcements!" That set all the Sand shinobi in the room on edge. Konoha was powerful. Not many people could work up the sheer _balls _it took to declare war on that village. That the Sound would try again after being defeated last time was almost inconceivable. "What do we do, Kazekage-sama?" Baki questioned. Gaara stared out the windows that gave a panoramic view of the Village Hidden in the Sand. Finally he responded,

"It appears that Kankuro, Temari and I will get that training journey after all," the former Jinchuuriki stated softly.

"Kazekage-sama!" the three jounin in the room exclaimed together.

"Surely you are not serious!" Baki cried, the half of his face not hidden by that annoying veil stricken with shock. "Only you three are going to go and reinforce the Leaf!? As powerful as all of you are, this is suicide!"

"I am technically still on leave," Gaara stated, his voice cold. "We will conduct our training. It matters not to me if it is against each other or on the Oto weaklings. We leave in two hours." The Godaime's voice left no room for argument. They would go. Sound-nins would die, blown away, sliced into bits and crushed beneath a giant coffin of sand. Finally, Temari and Kankuro smirked and nodded their agreement. Nothing like getting to spend a little quality time with each other and get to help out friends in the process.

* * *

The invasion had begun. Sort of. Right now it was more of a stand-off. The Sound army was arrayed all in one area outside the securely closed South Gate. The very gate that had started this whole mess. The entire village's army was arrayed on the wall, shuriken, kunai and various jutsu at the ready. If the army made one step into their range, the defenders would cut loose and decimate the numbers of the besieging army. One shinobi, with a black flak vest, stepped into range, confident, totally sure that the forces of Konoha wouldn't cut him down where he stood. Sakura's eyes widened when she saw who the confident (or perhaps just plain stupid) Oto nin was. She _recognized_ him,

"Sasuke-kun," she whispered, her green eyes going wide. Next to her, Kakashi heard her whisper his former student's name and whipped up his up his hirai-ate to bear Obito's Sharingan to the air. Sure enough, it _was_ Sasuke. This just went from bad to worse, by attacking Konoha, not even the foolhardy council would be able to ignore this. Sasuke had no chance of returning to the village now.

"Weaklings of Konohagakure no Sato!" Sasuke yelled loud enough for all the people on the wall to hear. "Where is the Hokage? I challenge her to a one-on-one duel to the death!" A ripple passed through the crowd at the Otokage's words.

"Sakura," Kakashi said in a low voice. Sasuke was sure to have his Sharingan activated and his mask would hide his mouth. When he saw he had the other jounin's attention, he continued, "go get Tsunade-sama. Tell her the situation and get her down here."

"But Kakashi-sensei-" she started, but the older shinobi cut her off.

"No. Get her down here. We don't have time. They outnumber us. Even if we bring the genin in they will overwhelm us," he said sternly. Another familiar voice spoke up now,

"Sakura-san, please do as Kakashi-san says." Sakura whirled to confront the man who had spoken, only to see,

"Iruka-sensei!"

The scarred chuunin schoolteacher smiled then continued,

"Sakura, you need to go get Tsunade-sama. Before Sasuke's patience runs out." Sakura felt horrible. She was to get her master, so she could kill the boy she had a crush on? Tears began to well up in her emerald eyes. This wasn't fair.

"Well?!" Sasuke yelled, "I'm waiting! Or is your 'great leader' too scared to show her face!" The great Sound horde laughed at their leader's remarks.

"You are too damn impatient! That's what happens when a spoiled whiny brat gets pumped up on power!" The Konoha shinobi parted to reveal Tsunade herself, who promptly strode up the part in her men. With her was a pretty blonde with a fall of hair covering one eye.

"Ino!?" Sakura shrieked, "But why?"

"Because you wouldn't do anything Forehead," came the other kunoichi's response, biting as ever. "Are you telling me that you would risk Konoha's destruction because you wouldn't get your teacher?" her tone was accusing.

"Sakura," now Tsunade spoke, and she didn't sound happy. "We will discuss your actions later. But for now, I have a pampered brat to put into his place." With that, she shed her green overcoat, tossed it to Ino and jumped over the edge of the wall to land in front of the Oto's leader. She straightened up and glared at the traitor.

"I will only tell you this once, Uchiha," the Slug sannin threatened. "Turn your little army around and go home so I won't have to kill you all." Sasuke just smirked,

"Now why would I do that when I'm about to end your life?" he asked, that dumb, cocky little smirk still plastered on his face.

"End my life? You think you can kill me, Uchiha Sasuke?" the Hokage asked. The younger shinobi just smiled. Tsunade knew this was it. She would end the Sound threat to Konoha forever right here and now. She only hoped that Sakura and Naruto could someday forgive her for what she was about to do now. She was going to kill Uchiha Sasuke!

Sasuke was confident. The bitch had shown herself! As he knew she would. Those who had friends were always so predictable. And weak. The power he had gained over the last few years from Orochimaru would be the key to beating this old hag and destroying Konoha forever!

The opposing forces held their collective breath as the two powerful warriors began to circle. The opening blows were just moments away. Sakura felt like she was going to cry. Her crush and master were going to engage in life or death combat and there was not a _damn_ thing she could do!

Ino watched her friend as she came close to tears. The chuunin wanted to comfort her, but knew that Sakura had to see this. This was the _only_ way to show Sakura that Sasuke was no longer coming back to Konoha. He was an enemy now. Yamanaka was glad that their Hokage had the good sense to realize that.

Kakashi was watching everything with his implanted eye. The movements Sasuke made were foreign to him. He had quit using the techniques the Copy-Nin had taught him, with the exception of Chidori. Hatake just _knew _his traitorous student would never quit using that justu. For an instant he wished that he had never developed that assassination technique.

Tsunade, for her part, was watching Sasuke's feet. It wouldn't do her good to get caught in a Sharingan-induced illusion. Similarly, the genjutsu she could use were useless. Uchiha's bloodline would shatter it in the blink of an eye. Gai had told her that the way to fight a Sharingan-user was to watch their feet. Seeing as he'd fought Itachi that way, she figured it would work against Sasuke. His left foot shifted and the two sprinted at each other, their fists meeting in a thunderous crash. The combatants slid apart again and Tsunade knew she was in for one hell of a battle.

Sasuke scowled in anger, his Sharingan blazing with fury. The damn bitch wouldn't look him in the eye! He figured he would just have to wear the hag out. She was old, no matter how you looked at it, close to sixty now. This would be over shortly. Then the Leaf would burn!

The two armies looked on with awe. The two battling shinobi weren't giving each other any ground. Neither had managed to land a single hit. Tsunade jumped into the air and unleashed a massive axe kick that put a crater right where the Uchiha had been an instant earlier.

'Fast,' Tsunade observed, even as she dodged a tagged kunai, which detonated behind her. 'His attacks are sort of sloppy though. He's not used to fighting with taijutsu. With his Sharingan, though, it doesn't really matter.' Her fist collided with the wall of Konoha, she'd had the Uchiha against the wall a moment earlier, the impact sending a giant fissure up the wall and causing some Leaf-nins up top to nearly fall over. 'But I will kill him!' Maybe Tsunade's determination to kill Sasuke paid off because she caught his next attack, a kick, and threw him through the air.

Sasuke's thoughts were jumbled as he tumbled helplessly end over end. How could this happen? He was faster, stronger, younger. How had she managed to catch and throw him? For all his perceived brilliance, Sasuke had overlooked one important fact. Experience. Tsunade just had more experience that the traitor. He could figure out one strategy or another, but chances were the Godaime Hokage had already seen it a couple times. Uchiha managed to stop his ceaseless tumbling and righted him self. Reaching into his holsters, he pulled out six shuriken and some wire. The bitch wanted to play rough? Fine by him, he could play rough.

The Godaime's eyes widened when the traitor threw shuriken at her. The stars passed her and wound around the tree behind her. The brat smirked and pulled on the near invisible wires in his hands. Next moment, she was bound to the tree with a jaw- rattling crash. Sasuke landed away from her, a victorious smirk on his face. She couldn't escape. Not without being cut to pieces by the wire. Sasuke made some seals and raised the wire to his lips,

"**Katon: Ryuuka no Justu!**" The river of fire poured down the wire and slammed into the Hokage with full force. Sasuke had put so much chakra into the technique that the tree exploded instead of catching on fire. When the smoke and flame died out, there, burning on the ground, was Tsunade's corpse.

A shocked silence fell across the witnesses to the clash of titans, then the Sound burst out into unholy cheers and jeers. The Leaf, on the other hand were shocked beyond words. Their great leader had been struck down by a lousy traitor!

"N-n-no! NO!!" Sakura yelled. There was not a chance in hell that Sasuke could have beaten her master! NO CHANCE! "TSUNADE-SAMA!!" A comforting hand on her shoulder made her turn tear-streaked eyes on the hands owner. Kakashi was watching her with an annoying calm look in his eyes.

"Sakura," he said softly, understanding her grief, but knowing there was nothing he could do to help. "It's over. Sasuke won."

"NO! No. You're wrong. WRONG!" She shouted. A mocking voice cut her off,

"What's the matter, Sakura?" Sasuke jeered, "Can't stand the sight of your precious master beaten? Don't worry, you will all join her soon." He held up a kunai that glinted ominously in the bright sunlight, "I'll butcher this village." The Sound sent up a great cheer at his words and Sakura sank to the ground, holding herself and sobbing uncontrollably. This wasn't happening, she tried to convince herself, it _couldn't_ be possible. Tsunade struck down by the man she loved? No, it couldn't be real. It just couldn't.

Kabuto was stunned. The arrogant bastard had actually done it! He'd killed a sannin! Kabuto's plans to take over Otogakure evaporated before his eyes. Uchiha's position in Oto would be forever cemented by this development. The masses would revolt if Kabuto killed the Oto leader now! He would be stuck serving a puffed up pretty-boy for the rest of his life!

"**Doton: Shinjuu Zanshuu no Jutsu!**"

The earth right underneath Sasuke exploded and a fist shot out to nail the Leaf traitor right in the jaw, sending him flying into the ground in a massive explosion of dust, dirt, and rock. All the spectators to the match of the century watched in shocked awe as Tsunade wrenched herself free of the hole she had dug to escape the Sofuushasen no Tachi. Now it was the Leaf's turn to erupt into cheers as their Godaime Hokage stood tall and brushed herself off.

Sasuke stood as well, wiping blood from his throbbing jaw and chin as soon as he was on his feet. He glared at the old hag across from him. He had missed the switch,

"How!?" He demanded. The Fifth smiled nastily,

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," she replied with a smirk. "Fun little jutsu isn't it? Too bad I'm not as good as Naruto was with it." Now Sasuke was pissed off. The old hag thought she was something special? He'd show her what power really was.

Purple chakra began to swirl around him as angry, glowing, flame-like marks began to crawl over his body. Tsunade's eyes widened as she recognized the first level of the Cursed Seal of Heaven crawling across the man's body.

'This is bad!' she thought, knowing the full weight of the situation, 'If he uses the second level I'm done for! I can handle the first level, but he's gonna be a tough one.'

"Fine. You want to quit playing around?" the Godaime challenged, "Okay, we can do that!" She made a cross shaped seal, "**Kage Bunshin no Justu!**" Seven Tsunades appeared in a puff on ninja smoke where there had been one.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the change in the battle. Even if the bunshins only had half of the real Godaime's inhuman strength, they would still hurt him if the blows landed. Now his Sharingan wouldn't be able to tell which one was real either. Oh, well. Just had to do it the old fashioned way. His hands flew together making a familiar set of seals that had been taught to him by a shinobi from this very dump.

Kakashi bowed his head when he saw the seals. So the traitor was going to finish the battle with the jutsu he didn't deserve to wield. He really wanted for someone, preferably the two students he had neglected, to hit him with Sennen Goroshi for being so stupid.

Sasuke felt the chakra buzz to life in his hands. He loved this jutsu. So many uses. The familiar chirping noise let him know the technique was ready. An instant later, and he was in his second level, the Chidori turning black. He blurred out of sight and struck down six Hokages before anyone, Tsunade included, had a chance to react. Now there was only one left. A quick roundhouse sent her flying and he was standing over her, Chidori begging to run her through.

Tsunade had been shocked by the Uchiha's sudden speed. One moment he'd been there in his monstrous second form, then the next he'd destroyed all her shadow clones. Now he'd found the real her and had her right in the place where he could kill her. She was too old, too damn _slow_! Had Tsunade been just a couple of years younger, she could have avoided it. The world seemed to slow down as the Chidori dropped toward her vitals. This was it. No chance to escape! Tsunade the Slug Princess was going to die. For everyone, time stood still.

A blur shot into her vision and kicked the Uchiha away. Tsunade had barely registered the black cloak before she found herself staring at the hood. A hood with a slashed Sound hirai-ate plate on it. What really shocked the hell out of Tsunade, though, were the Sound missing-nin's first words to her,

"Are you okay, Baa-chan?"

* * *

And CLIFFHANGER! Aren't I evil? Shocked that Naruto joined the Sound? Wondering how Sasuke was able to enter Cursed Seal Level Two so fast? Fear not, everything shall be explained in due time. Read and review, and thank you once again for all who have done so.

Jutsu Glossary:

**Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu (Fire Style, Dragon Fire Technique). **The user breaths fire down some type of medium. Usually thread or wire. Used by Sasuke as a follow up to the Triple Windmill.

**Doton: Shinjuu Zanshuu no Jutsu (Earth Style, Inner Decapitation Technique). **Usually a capture jutsu whereby the user digs a hole and tunnels over to the victim, then proceeds to grab a leg and pulls the victim down into the earth up to their neck, immobilizing them and leaving the recipient of the jutsu wide open to follow-up attack. Tsunade modified the jutsu to allow her to attack Sasuke instead of capturing.

**Sofuushasen no Tachi (Sharingan-controlled Triple Windmill).** Only usable by the Uchiha clan or someone with a Sharingan. The user throws many shuriken or kunai or a mix of both, connected to wires. All routes of escape are predicted and cut off by use of Sharingan then the victim is bound to something like a rock, or in this case, a tree. Then followed up by a stronger jutsu, typically Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu.

**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique). **Do I really need to explain this one? Well, for all of you new to the world of Naruto, this like the standard clone technique except that they are true beings with half of their creator's strength and are capable of attacking, unlike the standard clone that is a mere illusion. Supposedly labled a Kinjutsu, but everyone and their brother seems to know this one. The manga or show never really confirms (to my knowledge) that Tsunade could use this technique but, being a Sannin, I figured that it is highly probable that she does.


	5. He's BACK!

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Last time: Tsunade comes close to being killed by Sasuke. She is saved by the Sound missing-nin who turns out to be Naruto.

This time: Naruto and Sasuke fight.

* * *

Tsunade felt her heart stop. Did he just say 'Baa-chan'? She must have heard him wrong. The _ONLY_ person she let get away with that was Naruto, but he would never join the Sound. He _hated_ Orochimaru, even more than her or Jiraiya. But maybe, just maybe, this was really him. 

"N-Naruto?" she asked, hardly wanting to believe the small shoot of hope that had sprung up in her chest. She nearly passed out when the hood nodded, the mouth stretching into a grin that wouldn't have looked out of place on a mischievous child.

'Or a fox,' she thought wryly. Now the burning urge to see what her adoptive little brother looked like after five years seized her. Tsunade's hand left the ground next to her and moved slowly to the edge of the hood.

All the shinobi on the wall had gone dead silent when Sasuke had knocked down the Hokage and moved in to deal the final blow. Add in the arrival of the Sound missing-nin and you could have heard a pin drop. Kakashi, Sakura and Iruka watched as an exchange went on between Tsunade and the cloaked shinobi. They were out of earshot, and the shrouded ninja's body hid the duo's mouths so the three shinobi couldn't read the pair's lips at all. What they did see, however, was Tsunade's hand reaching for the man's hood.

Jiraiya was up in a tree. He had no choice in the matter. The entire Oto army was between him and the other Sannin. How his mysterious companion had managed to get over there was beyond him, but he had and now he was in the perfect position to act should the missing-nin or the Sound army try anything funny. They would find Gamabunta sitting on their asses before the smoke from the summoning even cleared!

Tsunade's breath hitched in her throat, and her hand shook violently as she slowly pushed back the cloak's hood. Time slowed for what must have been the millionth time that day as a nose was revealed, followed by six whisker-like scars, three on each cheek. Tsunade knew right then that this was her little brother, but she wanted to see his entire face, just to be sure it was really him and not some pretender under a Henge.

Naruto was doing all he could to let Baa-chan take this slowly and not rip his hood off himself. He knew that she wanted to make sure it was really him. Naruto _also_ knew that if he did remove it himself, the shinobi, Ero-sennin among them, would kill him in an instant. Not a desired outcome for either of the two residents of Naruto's body.

Tsunade felt the bottom drop out of her chest when the hood finally flopped back and revealed the face she had missed for the last five years. Tears welled in her hazel eyes as she looked at the face that was almost a carbon copy of the Yondaime Hokage's, yet was still the face of the pouting little boy with the sea urchin hair she had met seven years ago in a bar in Tanzaku Town.

"Heya, Baa-chan," the boy, no, the _man_, said gently, seeing her speechless. He grinned at her again and stood up. Tsunade couldn't help but notice that the little shrimp of a boy had grown to over six feet tall. Oh, yes, the boy definitely took after his father. Arashi would've been proud of his son. Abruptly, the blonde's face darkened to a seriousness that reached even his normally laughing blue eyes, furthering the likeness the man bore to his father.

"As great as this is, Baa-chan," he said conversationally, Tsunade hanging on his every word. "This is gonna have to wait. I've got some unfinished business with Sasuke-bastard." With that, he turned and strode toward the rogue Uchiha, coming to a stop several feet away. He undid his cloak and flipped it off his shoulders. Under it he wore a simple outfit of an orange T-shirt and black pants with three kunai pouches and on each leg was a shuriken holster.

Sasuke scowled as his rival took out a perfectly preserved Konoha hirai-ate and tied it to his forehead. This battle would be tough to win. He might even need Manda, as much as the Uchiha didn't want to summon the stuck up snake. But it all depended on the dobe. If he let that damn fox out of its cage or if he called on the giant toad Sasuke had seen him use once or twice, things would get very difficult indeed.

Kyuubi felt alive. How could he not? Soon there would be a giant battle, the likes of which the world hadn't seen since that little bastard Arashi showed up to challenge his greatness. How ironic that he was stuck in that very man's son. Though Naruto had no idea. Kyuubi had a feeling that the big chested woman and the old toad pervert wouldn't tell him until one of them was on their deathbeds. That was just how humans worked. Or maybe he was just biased. Either way, the fox wasn't going to be the one to break the news to Naruto.

Tsunade, meanwhile, had heaved herself to her feet and shot up the wall to the top, to get a better look at the battle. Something told her she didn't want to be caught in the crossfire. Knowing her little brother, he had trained himself into the ground to get ready for this moment.

Naruto rolled his neck to work out some of the knots in his muscles. He couldn't fight all tense like this. He had to be loose, limber, otherwise Sasuke-bastard would tear him apart.

'Ready, Furball?" he asked, knowing full well the fox lived for a battle like this. It was a great comfort in heated combat to know that someone had his back. Even if that someone happened to be an insanely powerful demon lord.

'**Ready Brat,'** his constant companion replied. **'Try and let me get a piece of him. I really wanna show this little prick what true terror is all about.'** Naruto grinned and prepared to do battle with his one-time best friend.

A chill wind whipped in from out of nowhere. All those up on the wall could see the ominous gray clouds gathering in the distance. It was as if the gods themselves were coming to witness this clash. Each combatant drew a kunai and waited.

'I'm gonna need to be fast. Sasuke-bastard hasn't been slacking off for the last year,' Naruto's blue eyes, holding all the warmth of a sapphire in the arctic, narrowed, 'but neither have I!'

'Dobe will die here!' Sasuke thought to himself gleefully, 'And I will gain the one thing left that I need to kill Itachi! The Mangenkyou Sharingan!'

The bystanders felt like cotton had been pressed over their mouths and stuffed into their lungs. In their eagerness to fight, both Naruto and Sasuke had been letting their chakra levels rise. Now it was only a matter of time before the tension between the two snapped and the battle got underway.

The tension snapped.

Naruto sprinted at Sasuke as fast as he could, flipping his kunai into a reverse grip. The knife flashed out and lanced toward Sasuke's carotid artery. The Uchiha's own kunai flashed out at the same time and the weapons met in a shower of sparks and ringing steel. Sasuke stabbed at the Jinchuuriki, who threw himself backward, planting his hands on the ground and kicked both feet straight up.

Sasuke saw stars as Naruto's sandals met his jaw with such force that it lifted him off the ground. The blond had followed through with the kick, using the momentum to flip himself up to his feet. Now he spun, sticking out his leg and letting it collide with Sasuke's ribcage in a thunderous blow that sent the Uchiha straight into the village wall.

Several people fell over from the concussion of the collision between Sasuke's body and the wall. Sasuke charged out of the wall with a war cry, speeding straight at Naruto. His arm flashed and the kunai he had somehow managed to keep a grip on sped from it like a bullet, heading straight for Naruto's face.

'Crap!' Naruto yelled at himself, he'd expected to Sasuke to be down longer than that! He was still off balance from the kick he'd sent to the traitor's ribs. No time to think! ACT! NOW!! His hands did the acting for him as his brain was still processing. They made a cross-shaped hand seal and Naruto called on his trademark jutsu,

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**!" The clone appeared and, to everyone's very great surprise, caught the kunai inches from the real thing's face. The clone gave Naruto's trademark grin.

"Surprised?" the clone asked, seeing Sasuke's bewildered face. "I've been practicing. What did you think I was doing the last five years?" With that, he handed the real Naruto Sasuke's kunai and disappeared in a puff of ninja smoke. Now Naruto gave the fox-grin at his enemy's face. Sasuke recovered from the brilliant ninjutsu show and smirked,

"Figures. You only know three jutsu and need help for two of them! You are, and always will be, the dead-last." Naruto dipped his head and Sasuke thought he'd crushed the annoyance's will to fight. It was over now. Naruto would die. He made the hand seals for Chidori. He would end this now. His Sharingan activated and the Uchiha sprinted at Uzumaki with all the speed he had.

"**CHIDORI!**"

"LOOK OUT, NARUTO!" Iruka, Tsunade and Sakura screamed together. The man gave no sign that he'd heard them. He made no move as Sasuke closed on him faster than almost everyone below jounin could follow.

Sasuke's eyes widened when Naruto's head snapped up, the fire that he was so used to seeing in his rival's eyes burning even more fiercely than ever before. In that same instant, Naruto's right arm snapped up and the Chidori was halted in a splash of colliding chakras.

"**Rasengan**!!" Naruto shouted, right before the two opposing jutsu reacted and the resulting explosion hurled the two apart. Sasuke landed like a cat, skidding backward trying to stop his momentum. Naruto rolled once, to bleed off speed, before launching himself out of the roll and back onto his feet.

Sasuke wanted to scream in frustration. This was **not** going the way the Uchiha prodigy wanted! He was _Uchiha Sasuke_! The dobe should be lying dead at his feet right now! Now, now Naruto would learn what real power was all about! Manda would feast today! The raven-haired traitor bit his left thumb and smeared the blood on his right palm.

Naruto's eyes widened when he saw what his former friend was doing. He was going to use the Summoning Technique! Well, two could play at _this_ game! He mimicked the Uchiha's movements and the two formed the same set of seals and slammed their blood-streaked palms into the dirt.

"**KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU**!!" the pair cried together. There was a massive explosion of smoke and wind that made all present shield their eyes from all the tiny pebbles that had been kicked up by hurricane-force winds.

Jiraiya, forced to abandon his tree when two massive bodies knocked it over, appeared next to Tsunade.

"Tsunade-hime!" he yelled, "What the hell is going on?" Tsunade punched him in the face. He keeled over, eyes swirling with blood pouring out of his broken nose.

"Watch you idiot," the Fifth replied grumpily. Really, the nerve of that pervert! Popping out of thin air when she was trying to make sure Naruto was okay and then yelling in her ear! He deserved what he got.

The smoke that hung over the battlefield was beginning to clear. Screams of pain accompanied the appearance of a giant purple snake and equally enormous toad that was dressed like a yakuza gangster. It appeared that the snake's long serpentine body was crushing many of the Sound forces. Naruto watched the injured men writhe in agony from the multi-ton reptile and shook his head in disgust and sadness. He had known from his time within Sound that Sasuke had gotten just as sadistic as Orochimaru, but he had chosen not to believe it. That is, until Kyuubi threw what he didn't want to see in his face and he became the Sound's one and only missing-nin.

"**Manda?"** the giant toad on who's head Naruto was currently standing spoke, clearly puzzled by his summoning into the material plane, right in front of his hated enemy. The head swiveled to look over the wall. **"Konoha? What the hell's goin' on around here?"** The boss toad took a big draft on his pipe. He exhaled a giant cloud of smoke, carelessly forgetting where he was and accidentally blew it over the Konoha-nins arrayed on the wall. That made Jiraiya jump to his feet, coughing and hacking. When he saw who had woken him up, he decided to take his anger out on the source,

"HEY! YOU DAMN TADPOLE!! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE BREATHING THAT SHIT! I WANNA LIVE TO SEE SEVENTY Y'KNOW!!" He bellowed, conveniently ignoring the fact that he smoked as well. All the Leaf shinobi present groaned. Kakashi sighed and rubbed his implanted eye. Now would start the comedy routine between the self-proclaimed "Toad Hermit" and the Boss Toad.

"**Jiraiya! There you are, you buffoon! Why did you get knocked off when you summoned me? Keh, must be old age setting in,"** Gamabunta yelled. That made more than one vein on the Toad Sannin's head bulge out, but before he could make a snappy comeback, another angry voice entered the argument,

"HEY! Will you two ladies _knock it off already?_ I'm trying to fight here!" Naruto shouted at both summon and sensei. He bounded over to Gamabunta's eye ridge and leaned over it, right into the toad's vision. The yellow eyeball widened in shock. The massive toad almost said the Yondaime's name, but then he noticed the Shodai's necklace.

"Naruto? It can't be. Naruto is short little gaki," that set the blonde off. 

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN 'SHORT LITTLE GAKI'!?" He yelled, "I'm twenty fricking years old here!" The toad's wide mouth curled up into a smile.

**'I don't believe it,'** Gamabunta thought to himself,** 'I don't see the kid for the longest time and when he summons me again, he's a clone of Arashi! Got it right on the first try too, 'cause I don't see Gamakichi anywhere.'** Any further conversation was cut off by a low hissing voice,

**"Are you three morssssselsssss done with your comedy routinesssss?"** It was Manda. Just prior to this, that arrogant whelp Sasuki, or whatever the hell his name was, were arguing over the human sacrifices the boy owed him. After coming to the agreement that the snake boss could eat the entire village, the snake had butted into their conversation.

**"Manda, shut the hell up. You need my help with this worm, gaki?"** Gamabunta asked his summoner. Naruto sighed at the continued use of 'gaki' but replied anyway,

"Yeah. Mind helping me out, Boss Toad?" the blonde asked. For once, the lazy toad decided to not be a dick and help the kid out.

**"Sure. I hate snakes," **the gangster toad replied, pulling out his sword. He would slice and dice that purple abomination of nature and make himself snake-kebabs for dinner! For the second time during that battle, chakra and tension levels began to skyrocket right up through the roof and all the weaker shinobi in the area felt like they had cotton pressed over their mouth and nose.

The four warriors stared each other down, then the snake lunged forward so fast that Gamabunta barely had enough time to react! Naruto found himself pressed to the amphibian's forehead as he flew three thousand feet into the air. Then he was floating as the toad began his descent.

'I'm gonna be sick. I'm not used to this,' he thought as he felt his stomach float into his throat. In the back of his mind, he heard Kyuubi laughing at him. 'Shut up, Furball.' The fox just snickered harder,

**'Why? This is just too damn funny!'** his tenant replied. Gamabunta slammed to earth with the force of a large bomb, kicking up a massive dirt cloud in the process. When it cleared, the toad boss' sword was jammed deep into the earth, with no sign of a giant snake summon impaled on the other end.

"Where'd he go?" Naruto asked. Then the ground started to rumble.

**'You just had to ask.'**

'Didn't I just tell you to shut up?' Gamabunta jumped again, just clearing the snapping jaws of Manda as he lunged from his underground hiding place. The toad had jumped forward this time, launching himself at the sword still impaled in the ground.

"Stop him you damn worm!" Sasuke shouted. If the giant frog got his hands on the sword it was all over! He'd seen the frog use the sword to rip the arm off of a giant raccoon made of sand before!

**"Shut up you insignificant human!"** the summon bellowed at him, **"I already know!" **They lost precious time arguing and Gamabunta made it to his sword. Naruto fell over as the Chief Toad was rammed by the purple snake, who had been hot on their heels. Gamabunta managed to stay upright even if Naruto hadn't and somehow swing his redwood-sized sword. A deep gash appeared in the snake's body and he reared back, hissing and spitting in agony as the wound sprayed blood everywhere. Naruto suddenly had an idea.

"Hey, Boss," he yelled, grinning at the plan that had formed in his head and had Kyuubi howling with glee. "Cover him with oil!"

**"Why?"**

"Just do it!" The toad responded and his cheeks bulged outward as he brought up oil from deep inside his body. Jiraiya began to chuckle when he saw what the toad was doing.

"Jiraiya-sama?" Sakura asked, confused as to why the old man was laughing. "Are you OK?" Tsunade was smiling as well. She had seen this jutsu a number of times before and knew Sasuke had better get out of there now or get one hell of a hot foot.

"I'm fine," the Toad Hermit answered. "Just watch. Naruto's about to turn up the heat!" Sasuke was busy hanging on to the top of Manda's thrashing head and was so saved from being drenched by the oil that Gamabunta spit out a second later.

"Awesome!" Naruto shouted. This would turn out better than he had hoped!

**"Hey gaki,"** the toad summon said, clearly annoyed that he'd wasted so much oil, **"You're supposed to light it on fire."**

"Oh! Well, if you insist!" Naruto replied, clearly feigning innocence on how the jutsu was supposed to work. He reached into the pouches on the back of his belt and drew out a single explosive tag. His wrist flicked and sent the paper bomb on its way, latching right on Manda's underbelly. He made a handseal,

"KATSU!" he bellowed. The tag exploded and engulfed his foe in flames as the oil caught fire. Inside him, Kyuubi sighed,

**'Why, oh why, did you have to imitate that clay-using freak?'**

'Because I wanted to.' The fox just sighed at his cage's immaturity. Of course Kyuubi couldn't really blame the blonde. This was the first time he'd seen his friends in five years. Of course he'd be a little wound up. Manda managed to endure the fire until the oil was all used up.

**"That wassss a low blow,"** he hissed indignantly. Naruto smacked himself on his head.

"Well DUH! I'm a shinobi, Dumbass! Low blows are what we do!" He bellowed. The only response he got was the snake lunging forward to try and kill him.

**"Hold on, Gaki!"** The toad lord yelled as he jumped up and away from his attacker. As they hit the apex of their jump, Naruto had a sudden flash back to the chuunin exams from when he'd been twelve. He grinned as he got another insane idea. Kyuubi saw what his host was planning,

**'Oh dear god! You seriously **_**want**_** to do that again?!'** Naruto stuck his tongue out at the kitsune, grinning.

'Relax. It'll all work out. And after we get the creepy ass snake to go away, I'll let you out!'

**'Well then, by all means go with your little plan.'** If it mean he got a chance to play with the Uchiha bastard, the Kyuubi wasn't about to complain. Naruto channeled chakra into his feet and jumped as high as he could. Everyone gasped at the man's seeming stupidity. He would be crushed beneath the snake's body or eaten if he left Gamabunta's back!

"NARUTO! YOU IDIOT!" Sakura, Tsunade, Iruka and Jiraiya all shouted at the same time. Kakashi just shook his head at Naruto's antics. Maybe he hadn't changed in all the time he'd been gone. Then again, the Copy-nin remembered, Naruto had always been unpredictable and he at least _seemed_ to be thinking things through more than he used to. Maybe, instead of shaking his head, Kakashi should be making some popcorn to go along with this little show. Things were about to get interesting.

Sasuke also noticed Naruto's leap and wasted no time in pointing it out to his snake summon. Manda let out a hissing laugh and tilted his head back, opening his cavernous mouth. Naruto grinned as he saw the snake playing right into his hands. He didn't have the time or the patience to let Gamabunta have all the fun. He curled up into a ball and hoped Manda didn't like to chew.

* * *

"Has he lost it!?" Temari shrieked to the other two Suna shinobi. They had arrived just in time to see a man that could only be Uzumaki Naruto leap off the descending toad's head and arc directly for the huge snake's mouth. 

"Knowing him, probably," Kankuro replied, astounded that any one man could be able to leap _into_ the waiting jaws of a snake the size of Shukaku. Gaara just shook his head as he continued to watch the spot in the sky that was Naruto get swallowed by the purple monstrosity.

"He never did think about things," Gaara said to no one. He was just thinking out loud. He could remember the last time he'd seen that giant toad. And who would ever forget the gargantuan battle he'd had with Shukaku? Of course, Gaara had been asleep for most of it so he didn't know that much, but Temari had been there and she'd filled him in on what had happened.

"You got that right," Kankuro said nodding.

* * *

Naruto was mashed, compressed and squeezed as he felt the massive snake's muscles working him deeper into Manda's body. He had to wait until he had stopped moving. In the rank and pitch black silence he finally felt himself stop moving. He grinned despite his predicament. This bastard had made a big mistake in swallowing him, 

**'When you're done congratulating yourself,'** the Kyuubi butted in, impatient to get his turn in battle, **'would you please get on with it?!'**

'Okay, okay. Sheesh.' Naruto grumbled. Jeeze, some people couldn't wait five minutes.

Everyone outside fell silent with varying degrees of disgust on their face, either at Naruto's stunt or at the bulge in the snake's body working it's way down to Manda's middle.

'**Ahh. Tassssty,'** Manda hissed, clearly relishing his snack, **'Now, what other morsels can I find around thisssss dump."** Screams erupted as the snake lunged for the forces arrayed on the top of the wall. As shinobi let loose with various weapons and jutsu, Naruto was busy building charka for the last (and most entertaining) part of his plan. His eyes snapped open as he finally hit the level of chakra he'd thought he would need. He made a cross seal with his hands and called his trademark jutsu one more time, except on a much _much_ larger scale,

"**Taijuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" He yelled. Outside Manda suddenly stopped, inches away from devouring a terrified chuunin by the name of Keitaro. Something felt funny. Gamabunta, sneaking up behind the snake to ambush him, suddenly stopped when he saw the bulge where Naruto was suddenly double, then triple in size.

"What is he doing?" Iruka wondered as he watched amazed. Sakura was stunned too. Then she remembered the story Naruto had told her in the Forest of Death during her first chuunin exam. About how he had been swallowed by a giant snake and had gotten out by using the Shadow Clone Technique to blow it up from the inside out.

"He's going to expand Manda until he blows up!" She shouted, the excitement clear in her voice, drawing the attention of everyone in earshot to the bulge that was continuing to expand. "Way to go Naruto!"

"**Ugnh,"** groaned the snake. He felt like he was about to hurl, **"I ate too much."** That was the last words out of the summon before he exploded, spraying blood and gore all over the place. The wall was drenched as were a few houses on the other side of the wall. The south wall bordered the Residential District. Sakura knew that there would be some pissed off homeowners when the invasion ended. Not if, when. If Naruto could take down a summon as spectacularly as he'd just done, then he could certainly stop an invasion. Now instead of a massive snake, there were what must have been close to three thousand Narutos. In a massive explosion of smoke, all the clones dispersed as one, as did Gamabunta, who was laughing his massive ass off at what his henchman had done.

Now both Sasuke and an exhausted Naruto were standing on top of the wall. Sasuke was furious about what his annoying former teammate had done, but there was no way around it. Naruto had bested him. This round anyway. Sasuke was in a tight spot, but Naruto was worse off. The man seemed to be teetering on the edge of passing out. Sasuke smirked, his confidence returning once more. Naruto never did have great chakra control.

"Way to go, dobe," he taunted, sure that Naruto was on the ropes and would be easy prey. He could almost feel the power of the Mangenkyou Sharingan being released. "You've used up all of your chakra. Now you're nothing a liability. Just like you've always been." He got no response out of the other man, who was heaving great breaths because of both exhaustion and oxygen deprivation inside Manda. "Good god, Naruto, I thought that you would have learned your lesson over the last year. Guess not." It was fortunate that Sasuke's attention was on belittling Naruto and not looking at him, opting to stare out over the village he was about to obliterate.

Tsunade and Naruto's friends were watching him, however. And what they saw scared the crap out of them. The blond's hand was steaming, and his fingers were twitching, the nails on them slowly lengthening into claws. The places where Manda's stomach acid had eaten through his clothes and burned Naruto's skin began to steam and heal. Steam also began to leak out from underneath his feet, slowly bleeding into bright crimson chakra. Demon chakra.

"Kakashi?" The masked ninja looked over at the toad sannin who had spoken to him. "You still have that seal I gave you?" He was referring to the small square of parchment with a complex seal inked out on it, designed to suppress the Kyuubi's chakra.

"Yeah, I held on to it just in case," he replied. "You think we'll need it?" Jiraiya sincerely hoped that that was sarcasm in the masked shinobi's voice. Otherwise the Toad Sannin would have to kill him. A Kyuubi-possessed Naruto was not someone he wanted to deal with right now. No one did. Not only would Naruto be freakishly powerful, but he would be vicious and they _might _have to kill him, and Jiraiya didn't want to do that. Not after the kid had just gotten back.

"Seriously, dead-last, why do you even continue as a shinobi?" Sasuke was still trying to insult Naruto. The Uchiha didn't realize that he wasn't dealing with the Jinchuuriki anymore, but the beast that he held in check by simply existing.

* * *

Kabuto was no fool. He knew what was about to happen. This was it. Now was the time to strike and kill Sasuke. The best part was, the Kyuubi would do it for him and he would be able to take command of the Sound without ever having to challenge Sasuke. 

"Captain," he said softly to the man next to him.

"Yes sir?"

"We're pulling out. Tell all the men to return to Rice." Kabuto said smoothly. The commander looked shocked,

"But Kabuto-sama, Sasuke-sama is-"

"A dead man," the bespectacled man interrupted, cutting off any further protest, "Take a look at the traitor up there. Notice anything about him?" The Oto-nin looked at the man who had decided to betray them after being welcomed in with no real protests. Orochimaru-sama had been very pleased to have a Jinchuuriki. He would have been able to strike a deal with the Akatsuki especially with the host who held the Kyuubi, strongest of the Bijuu.

"His body is…steaming?"

"Very good. It's a sign that the Kyuubi within the brat is rising to the surface. Very soon now, Sasuke-sama will be nothing more than a bloodstain on that wall."

"So we will cut our losses and run? Konohagakure will be left standing…" He trailed off at the murderous look Kabuto sent his way. The man realized that Kabuto-sama was right. There was no way for them to help Sasuke-sama. The Kyuubi would slaughter them all with just a flick of his tails. He leaned to his adjutant and passed the order to withdraw. Through whispers and covert hand signals, the Otogakure horde began to slowly withdraw, leaving some hundred and fifty dead, all due to the clash between the summon creatures.

"Now, I will kill you, gain the Mangenkyou Sharingan and kill my brother." At last Sasuke had reached the end of his speech. Naruto was sitting cross-legged on the soggy ground in his mental room, wishing he had popcorn. He'd been watching Kyuubi all during the speech and had seen the fox's tails beginning to twitch, a sure sign that the demon was getting impatient and was preparing himself to strike.

'This is gonna be good!' Naruto thought gleefully to himself. Kyuubi felt his cage's anticipation and knew that the time was at hand. He would deal the finishing blow. Naruto had allowed him that much. The Nine-Tails knew how much bringing Sasuke back meant, but also knew that Naruto really wanted to kill the Uchiha himself. That he would hand that goal over to Kyuubi with no complaining said a lot about how much the pair had come to rely on and trust each other in recent months.

"**Are you done now?**" the demon said with Naruto's mouth. Everyone took one look at each other and headed for the nearest rooftops they could find. Naruto's voice had gone from his normal pitch to a deep and very bass tone. Everyone who knew about what was inside the man knew that the Kyuubi had taken over. Uchiha Sasuke now faced the single greatest menace to ever threaten the Leaf Village.

"What was that dead-last?" Sasuke snarled. He would dare to interrupt after Sasuke had allowed him a few more minutes to live?

"**I said, are you done?**" The fox repeated. Naruto started to laugh outright. There were two things Kyuubi hated more than anything, the Yondaime and repeating himself. Making the fox do that was one thing that was sure to piss him off. Which is why Naruto made him do it often.

"A stupid fool should remember to never interrupt his superiors," Sasuke said coldly. He still thought that he was dealing with Uzumaki Naruto, not a demon. He turned to glare at the dead-last and found him just standing there, glaring at him with one angry red eye with a slit for a pupil. Sasuke took a few involuntary steps back despite himself. He smirked, "So, the baka can't even finish what he started without help. How pathetic."

"**You say that like you believe that I possessed Naruto,**" the fox hissed, the urge to rip Sasuke's body in half and dance on the pieces clear in the demon's voice. "**Yet you continue to be wrong. Naruto **_**let**_** me have control over his body.**"

Kakashi's eyes widened when his Sharingan picked up Naruto's lip movements. The blonde had _given_ control over to the Kyuubi? What lie had the fox spun to get him to do _that_!?

* * *

The Sound was far enough away. They could turn their backs to the enemy and not worry about being decimated. Unfortunately for them, what they found when they did turn around made them wish that they had stayed to be slaughtered by the Kyuubi. Now the Oto-nins faced a giant tsunami, composed entirely of sand. They had only a split second before it crashed over them. Those who managed to stay near the top heard only a pair words before their deaths, 

"**Sabaku Taisou**." None had time to scream in pain, they were crushed so fast, Kabuto among them. The sly nin had been the first one hit with the sand avalanche. He'd also been one of the deepest ones to be buried. Gaara stood, having completed his jutsu and brushed himself off.

"Damn," Kankuro whined, "You didn't even leave us any!"

"Does it matter Kankuro?" Temari snapped, rolling her eyes. "We can always spar with some of the Konoha shinobi." Gaara gave a half smile as his brother and sister began to bicker with each other. Really, you'd never guess that they were in their twenties by the way that they acted sometimes. The Kazekage turned back to Konoha to watch the battle unfolding on the wall. He hoped that his friend, Uzumaki Naruto, was okay, if that red chakra swirling around him was anything to go by.

"Let's keep going. Uzumaki Naruto still faces Uchiha Sasuke. He may need help," Gaara's words cut the sibling rivalry short and the trio began to walk across the bloody sand that still covered the ground.

* * *

Sasuke gulped as red chakra blasted up around the Kyuubi, beginning to shape itself into a rough outline of a fox. This wasn't good. Naruto may be a pathetic excuse for a shinobi, but the Kyuubi was death in physical form. The last few times the duo had fought, Naruto had been the one in control. Now the fox had full control over Naruto's body and if the demon was to be believed, the dobe had _let_ him do it. One could take that to also mean that Naruto wouldn't be stepping in to save Sasuke from being shredded to ribbons by the vicious demon. 

'I'm in deep shit,' crossed Sasuke's mind before he activated the first level of his curse seal, the black comma-shaped design burning as it wove its way over his skin, drawing out all of his chakra.

The Kyuubi grinned. Unlike Naruto's grin that was full of laughter and warmth, this one promised nothing but pain, torture and death. Sasuke had seen this grin once before, the day Orochimaru died. The Uchiha had been in the room watching the two powerhouses grapple and struggle. Then that grin had come out and Orochimaru had frozen, a look of stark terror on his face. In the instant he'd frozen, Naruto, not Kyuubi, had swung his kunai and Orochimaru's head had been sliced clean off in a move that would have made an ANBU proud.

"**Isukumi.**" Was all the possessed man said. Before Sasuke knew what hit him, he was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane. He began to sweat, and it didn't take long before he soaked in the moisture. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, the curse seal was withdrawing.

He had to run. Had to! There was no way in a million years he'd be able to stand up to this monstrosity! He would be butchered like a rabbit before the hawk! The world was spinning, his vision graying out. His breath came in short, rapid breaths. All the while, Kyuubi's eyes just watched him. And the red orbs seemed to grow, until Sasuke felt as if he was under a microscope. He couldn't do anything to hide! He was just a lamb for the slaughter! He was about to DIE! He suddenly realized that he was laying on the ground. He couldn't stand against Kyuubi! He had to escape! He didn't want to fight anymore!

Then the stark terror he'd felt when the Kyuubi had said just that single word faded enough to where Sasuke could think straight. He had to get away! Konoha's destruction wasn't enough of a reward to tangle with a demon that could reduce him to a blubbering baby with just a single glance! He crawled to the edge of the wall and looked over it. It was a long way down. He felt like his stomach was going to come out of his mouth. He couldn't take it. Sasuke gritted his teeth and heaved himself over the edge. A second later, he'd smashed into the ground in an impact that made him cry out. He couldn't feel his legs, so walking was out. He began to crawl, trying to put some distance between him and the demon that had crushed his will to fight. No longer did Sasuke want to burn the Leaf!

Up on the wall, Kyuubi smiled nastily when the Uchiha had crawled out of sight and gave control over to Naruto, who was hopping mad at him for letting Sasuke get away.

'What in the _hell_ is WRONG WITH YOU!?' Naruto shrieked, his voice hitting pitches that shouldn't have been possible for a man past puberty. 'You could have ended it right there! But NOOOO! You just _had_ to let him get away! Baka furball!!'

'**Listen Naruto,'** Kyuubi purred, satisfied with Sasuke's reaction to the Isukumi, now the stage was set for their next battle. The one that would hopefully end with the spoiled Uchiha's demise. **'Yes I could have killed him. Why didn't I? Because, I wanted him to know that I…no, **_**we**_** can render him helpless with but a single glance. Now the next time we do battle, he will be so twitchy he will make stupid mistakes. And make killing him that much easier.' **Naruto shut up right then, his old squinty eyed expression on his face. Finally he nodded after an eternity of thought,

'Yeah, you're right,' he sighed, 'Dammit, I _hate_ it when you're right.' The fox just laughed at his cage before punting him into the real world.

Every shinobi of the Leaf watched in stunned awe as the Uchiha toppled out of sight. Then, after nearly twenty minutes of just standing there, Naruto finally faced them, his eyes and face exactly as they should have been. Next thing the blond knew, Tsunade, Iruka, Kakashi, Jiraiya, and Sakura, who had seen every minute of the unbelievable battle between him and Sasuke, mobbed him. Tsunade was the first to reach him, and wasted no time in clobbering him ontop of his head the moment she reached him.

"YOW! Dammit, Baa-chan," Naruto shouted as he picked himself up from the small crater he'd made from the force of her blow. "What the hell was that for!?"

"For leaving me for five years and not even saying good-bye, dumbass!" the Godaime Hokage yelled right back, the fighting duo's faces just inches apart. "And for letting that stupid demon have control of you!"

"I can't help it!" Naruto protested, looking very much like he was twelve again, squint-eye pout and everything. "It's part of our damn _deal_!" Dead silence met his words. Thankfully, all of the normal Konoha shinobi and all of Naruto's other friends had returned to their normal duties. All of Naruto's friends thought that they would be able to see him later, provided the missing-nin was grated his status again and allowed to stay in the village.

"Deal?" Kakashi echoed, wondering if he should loosen his mask. The thing must be depriving him of air and now he was hallucinating. Now Naruto's shift in personality took everyone by surprise as he went from hyper to serious faster than it took to blink.

"Yeah, our deal," he said. Tsunade smiled gently. This was something she had to know, both as Hokage and to have something to blackmail the blond with later on if it was embarassing enough.

"Well," the Fifth said finally. "It appears that we have much to talk about."

"But how, Baa-chan?" Naruto asked, "I'm a missing-nin and the council will commit suicide before they agree to reinstate me." Tsunade's face darkened,

"They'll let you back in or they'll have to deal with me," she growled ominously. Now a new voice spoke up from behind them,

"And they will also know that they will have to deal with Sunagakure if you are not made into a Konoha-nin again, Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto turned so fast that he almost pulled a muscle in his neck. He grinned excitedly when he saw who it was,

"GAARA!" The Kazekage smiled softly, only the second one that Naruto had ever seen out of the normally emotionless man. He noticed the other two and grinned at them too. Temari and Kankuro returned his smile and the group began to walk toward the Hokage's Tower. Naruto forgot all about the council and the vote they would have to take to reinstate him. It didn't matter.

He was **back**!

* * *

That's it. I hope that this battle was better than the last one I wrote. For those who thought the ending sucked, I agree with you. But I never intended to kill off Sasuke this early. I want to torture him a little. For those of you who have been screaming for Sasuke's head on a platter, fear not. By the end of The Disappearance, Sasuke will die. How and by who's hand I have yet to determine. BUT! That is a long way off. First, explanations and a fight between Naruto and someone else. Not gonna say who. Take a guess if you want! Sorry about Kabuto's death sucking, but I really hated that guy. I wanted him to get killed off quick, cause he would have had a very minor roll in the story. 

Now for some bad news. I have finals and a crap load of flight activities going on this week. Simply put, it's gonna be hell and my updates will slow down or stop altogether. I also fly back home on Friday. After that, no college for a month and I should be able to make up for lost time.

Glossary:

**Taijuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Mass Shadow Clone Technique)** Kage Bunshin on a much larger scale. When talking about Naruto, generally between 100-2000 clones.

**Sabaku Taisou (Desert Requiem) **Gaara's bigger version of the Desert Funeral. Follow up to Desert Avalanche.

**Kuchiyose no Jutsu, Rasengan and Chidori**. I won't explain them here. They should be pretty well known to all you Naruto veterans out there. For the newbies to Naruto, just wait. You will _love_ these jutsu.

**Isukumi (Paralyzing Terror)** Any RuroKen lovers out there? Recognize the name? Got it from Shin no Ippo used by Udo Jin-e. Basically Kyuubi's version of Tsukuyomi. Swamps the victim with an overwhelming terror that Kyuubi will slaughter them. If the victim realizes that they can survive a battle with the fox, or want to get away, the effect is greatly diminished. Will also drive the victim to do _anything_ to escape, like throw yourself off the edge of Konoha's south wall. Downside is that it takes a lot of concentration to use to full effect. Original Jutsu.


	6. The Duel of the Century

Disclaimer: Own nothing, Know nothing.

Last time: Naruto returns and kicks Sasuke's ass.

This time: Lots of talking about what to do with our wayward blond and a fight.

* * *

"NO! I absolutely refuse to allow that _thing_ to serve as a Konoha shinobi!" Despite coming from Danzo, the commander of ROOT, that was the prevailing sentiment of the council. 

"But you cannot deny that without Naruto's help, Konoha wouldn't be standing and I would be dead!" Tsunade protested. She knew that she would have her hands full in dealing with the prejudiced fools, but their hatred for Kyuubi was even more deep-seated than she could have ever imagined.

"Do you honestly think that we couldn't have turned the tide? ANBU would have done the job."

"No." That simple word shut everyone on the council up. Tsunade hadn't spoken, Gaara had. "Uzumaki Naruto saved this village, as did I. Otogakure is functionally gone. There were some survivors, but it is unlikely that they will be able to regroup, and Uzumaki Naruto has driven Uchiha Sasuke into hiding by allowing Kyuubi to break him with a single glance." Gaara fixed each and every council member with his infamous glare. He held their gaze until each one looked away. "If you will let such a powerful shinobi, who is known for his fierce loyalty to your village, walk away, then I will allow him into Suna."

"That is an empty threat, Kazekage-sama," said the councilman with the green glasses. "You cannot allow him sanctuary because of our alliance." That was partially true. However there was one loophole, one that Gaara was about to exploit to its full advantage,

"That is only in the case of missing-nins who have shown open hostility to Konohagakure. Uzumaki Naruto has done no such thing, nor would he ever. Therefore, I am within our treaty to allow him to become a Suna-nin should he choose it." A murmur swept the chamber that village leaders sat in along with the two Kages in their formal dress, complete with sweeping hats. Tsunade shot Gaara a quick look of gratitude, which earned her a small nod from the stoic Kage. It appeared that having Naruto in Suna was just as terrifying to them as him being in Konoha.

"How do you know that the demon hasn't shown any hostility to the village?" Danzo asked, the hatred of Naruto clear in his voice, "He has been an Oto-nin. How do we not know that he hasn't killed our shinobi?" Tsunade had the answer for that one,

"Naruto has told me that he was well known within Oto for wearing his cloak at all times. Only Orochimaru, Kabuto, and Sasuke knew of his real identity. There are no records from _any_ of our shinobi saying that they have come under attack by anyone from Oto coming even _close_ to matching that description." The council shifted nervously in their seats. Two of their key arguments against arresting and executing Naruto were gone. Once more, Danzo, who had been named the council speaker for this hearing, spoke one more time,

"Can you disprove what the demon did twenty years ago?" Gaara's voice, when he answered, was low and had bad things promised for the council. If he killed all these bigoted fools, he had a feeling that Tsunade-sama wouldn't care. The terrifying image he was projecting wasn't made any happier by sand that was starting to swirl up around his body.

"You seem to imply that a demon and his Jinchuuriki are one and the same. It is my understanding that Naruto is being discussed here not the Kyuubi. I can tell you personally that a demon host and the creature he or she carries are two different entities. By implying that Naruto is the Kyuubi, are you saying that I am Shukaku?" The entire council began shuddering from the eerie picture of the sand swirling around Gaara and the immense chakra and killing intent he was radiating. Danzo made a signal to the ANBU, but none of them were stupid enough to make a move. They knew what Gaara was capable of.

"We meant no offense, Kazekage-sama," the ROOT commander replied silkily, he would need to be smooth here or he would be crushed by a coffin made of sand. "However, you no longer have a demon, and Naruto…"

"Has tamed his," Gaara cut him off. "Uzumaki Naruto has done what no other Jinchuuriki in history has done. I would have never even dreamed of attempting the same with Shukaku. And I'm willing to bet that none of the other Jinchuuriki in the world have done what Uzumaki Naruto has. If you execute him because of the simple fact that he possesses the Nine-Tailed Fox, I will slaughter you all myself."

"Kazekage-sama, I will ask that you watch your mouth within these chambers!" Danzo shouted. "Are you threatening this council?!" Gaara grinned. It was the insane, bloodthirsty grin of when he had been at his killing worst. Tsunade could see it was a show, but, by the look on Danzo's face, he didn't. Maybe she should find a new ROOT commander?

"But the Kazekage raises a good point," Tsunade spoke suddenly. All attention in the room focused on her. "If you execute Naruto because of that simple fact, you will find all of his friends after your collective hides. Myself among them. You know of my relationship with him." The old farts shifted again. Indeed they all knew. It was well known that the Godaime Hokage thought of the Kyuubi-brat as a little brother. She grinned, just as savagely as Gaara,

"And, since the Kyuubi will die if Naruto dies, I don't think the fox will let you get the chance. You can either harness the fantastic strength Naruto now possesses, or you can try to execute him and get slaughtered by the Kyuubi, myself, all Naruto's friends, and, if his answer is anything to go by, the Kazekage and Suna." She stared at each of them in turn, "Do you believe you can take on an entire village?" The councilmen spoke among themselves, too low for the Hokage and Kazekage to hear. Finally, Danzo turned around, Tsunade was pleased to see the ROOT commander didn't look too happy.

"It is the decision of this council to spare Uzumaki Naruto's life." Gaara and Tsunade exchanged relieved looks. Looks like neither of them would have to follow up on their threats, even if they were semi-bluffs. "However, Uzumaki Naruto must pass one test."

Tsunade cocked an eyebrow, "Oh? And what would that be?" Danzo grinned and it wasn't a nice one,

"He must fight a warrior of the council's choice. If he fails, he will be banished from Konoha. If he passes, he will be reinstated to the rank he previously held before leaving Konohagakure. He will also not be allowed to access the Kyuubi's power. We will see to it that Jiraiya-sama seals the creature's chakra away until the conclusion of the battle." Danzo tilted his head, "Do these conditions satisfy you Hokage-sama and Kazekage-sama?" Tsunade and Gaara smirked.

"Uzumaki Naruto lives for challenges like these," Gaara stated, confident that his first friend would come through with no real trouble.

"The Kazekage is right," Tsunade agreed. "So. Don't keep us in suspense any longer. Who will Naruto be fighting?" Danzo leveled his finger. Straight. At. HER!

The Fifth was stunned. She had to fight her little brother?! Damn these snakes!! She had been too hasty. She should have waited for them to name who the council had chosen. "You cannot be serious!"

"Unfortunately, Tsunade-hime, we are quite serious." It was the old man with the glasses. He'd been one of Sarutobi-sensei's closest allies on the council. Since the Sandaime had been checking up on Naruto since the Yondaime had died, the old man had been in contact with the boy more often than he would have liked and, despite himself, started to see the container as human instead of the demon reincarnated.

"You are also expected to go all out, Hokage-sama," Danzo added. "We will be watching. We _will_ know if you give anything less than your all."

"Is that it?" Tsunade growled angrily at the council. How dare they manipulate her! They were _her_ advisors, not her _commanders_! She was Hokage! What she said…

'Calm down,' she told herself. 'They have to honor their end just as much as I have to honor mine.' The Slug Sannin smiled cheerfully at the council before leaving to tell the others what was going on. Wouldn't it be great to blow the council's scheme straight to hell? It was clear what they were doing. They were doing everything they could to make _sure_ that Naruto failed. Had Naruto been a kid still, it might have worked, but now he was in his twenties and had been training for five, no, _seven_ straight years! Who knew how much he'd picked up in that span of time?

The Fifth wasn't sure she _could_ beat him. Even without Kyuubi, he was freakishly powerful. Even as a teenager. Now, with five years of living by himself and, obviously, killing by himself, could she beat him? She didn't want to lose to the brat. She'd done that once already and Naruto had the necklace to prove it. The council wanted her to go all out? Fine. Naruto had just better have a greater one hundred percent than she did.

* * *

Naruto was having the best time he could remember since before leaving the village! All of his friends had stopped by to see him! Sure he wasn't with Baa-chan, arguing his case before those fools on the council, and he was locked in the Tower, but that didn't mean people couldn't climb through the window Baa-chan had _forgotten_ to close. They were ninjas after all.

"So we had to lug Chouji to the hospital to get his stomach taken care of. Again," Shikamaru finished. Everyone roared with laughter. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't have been funny, but just being able to talk to Naruto after five years made everything humorous.

"Man, you haven't changed a bit have you, Chouji?" Naruto said, still chuckling. "Eating out that barbeque joint you guys always go to…" he shook his head. He was leaning casually against the Hokage's desk with his arms crossed, but still gave off that aura of constant alert that all shinobi above chuunin had. The other man, still having the same outfit he'd worn five years ago, grinned and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Shikamaru, in keeping with his laziness, hadn't changed either.

"So, Naruto-kun," Tenten asked, "Have you learned to use any weapons?" The blonde shinobi shrugged,

"No, not really, but I know how to use a katana if I have to," he replied, "I tend to use ninjutsu more than anything." Tenten looked a little put out. Would _no one_ share her interest in weaponry of all shapes and sizes? She pouted for show, crossing her arms over her red traditional tunic with gold embroidery and floral pattern on her shoulder. She thought that it went with her navy blue pants quite nicely.

"Really, Tenten," Neji said with a sigh. The girl just couldn't figure out why no one else loved weapons as much as she did. "When will you learn that not everyone likes to rely on weapons?" Naruto cracked a grin,

"You mean like the Hyuuga rely on Jyuuken?" he asked with a supposedly innocent tone. He grinned at the Hyuuga's scowl. "It's true." Tsunade chose that moment to walk through the door. The room broke out into babble all at once,

"Well?"

"Is he good to go?"

"Why do we have to go through this troublesome hearing?"

"Can we eat?" Tsunade held up a hand to silence the stem of bombardment of questions pertaining to Naruto's hearing. The blond himself hadn't said much, heck, he hadn't even moved. He just stared at her with searching and serious blue eyes.

"Well?" he said softly, but the room went dead quiet at his singular word. All eyes turned to her in expectation. She saw hope with Tenten and Sakura. Guarded indifference from Neji, and lazy curiosity from Chouji and Shikamaru.

"The council has decided that Naruto is to fight a warrior of their choosing. If you win, Naruto, you will be reinstated as a genin. If you lose, you will be banished from the village." Ignoring the shocked looks, Naruto simply raised an eyebrow. It was downright creepy for Tsunade to see the blond actually being serious. "You will have no help. Neither exterior or," here she gave him a pointed look, "Interior." Naruto's eyes widened slightly, and one of his hands convulsed on his stomach, the place where Kyuubi was sealed.

"Who am I fighting?" he asked simply. Tsunade sighed. This was the part she didn't want to answer, but it was better for him to be ready than to come and be surprised. If he was surprised, he would be apt to make a mistake that would cost him the battle.

"Me." _Everyone's_ eyes went wide now. No exceptions. Tsunade didn't meet the blonde's eyes as she continued, "Don't ask for me to try and change it. I can't. I agreed to this and the Constitution says that if both the Kage and the Council agree to it, neither party can back out. This is nonnegotiable. I'm sorry."

"Don't be, Baa-chan." Those three words made her look him in the eye. She was shocked beyond all words when she saw Naruto's expression. The Jinchuuriki wore a soft smile and his eyes were sad. It was Arashi's smile the night before he died. With his long hair and overall resemblance to his father, it was as if Arashi was forgiving her from beyond the grave. "You couldn't have known. I'm sure that those fools didn't tell you until you had already agreed. Am I right?"

"Yes. They didn't tell me until I agreed." Now Naruto's soft smile morphed into his trademark shit-eating fox grin, shattering his resemblance to his dad.

"I guess I'll have to kick your old and withered ass!" Tsunade was dumbfounded. Was he really that stupid? He had to _fight_ her! And here she was thinking he had matured! Then she spotted the slight shake in his hands as they braced him against the desk and it hit her. He _was_ nervous. He realized the position they were both stuck in! But he was putting on a brave face. Why? Probably so his friends didn't think he was a coward. Then again, it could have been his classic response. The battle with Kabuto from came when she'd first met him to mind. Kabuto's scathing taunts were met only by endless defiance from Naruto. The same thing was being done here.

"Heh. You couldn't kick my ass if you tried whelp!" She responded, with a grin to match his. "I'll teach you to respect your elders!" Now everyone was smiling at the two's antics.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to train." With that, Naruto strode from the desk to the window and leapt out without a second thought. Everyone watched as he moved with easy grace from rooftop to rooftop, never once stumbling like some shinobi did.

'**Are you sure you're up to this. Kit?'** Kyuubi's voice echoed in his head, **'You're strongest when we work together.'**

"I know that," Naruto responded out loud. Sometimes it just helped his thought process to talk out loud to the fox. "But I think I've come to rely on you too much. This is a good way for me to gauge how strong I really am. I'm gonna use the Youkai Kage Bunshin to make sure I'm not tempted."

'**Suit yourself.'** The Kyuubi withdrew to watch his cage get ready for a fight that, for once, Naruto wasn't looking forward to.

* * *

Tsunade was tense, but she was prepping for the fight as well. While Naruto may have been able to fight without preparation, for the Slug Princess, who wasn't exactly in her prime anymore, pouring over the scarce medical records and the mission reports, looking for anything that might give her an edge in the battle. She didn't want Naruto banished from the village, but that didn't mean she would insult him by giving anything less that one hundred percent, and the Hokage knew that Naruto would do the same.

* * *

"**RASENGAN**!" the bright blue sphere drilled deep into the boulder before exploding and shattering whatever was left. Naruto was training with the justu because he hadn't used it for a while. Sure he'd used it to counter Sasuke's Chidori, but that had been the first time in nearly five years. After he'd left, the blond had avoided both Rasengan and Kuchiyose no Justu, knowing that they were both too unique to him and would have led Ero-sennin straight to him. Needless to say, after five years of non-use, his control over the justu was shaky at best.

'**Behind.'** That simple word from Kyuubi had Naruto whirling around, just in time to catch the ANBU poofing in. It had been close to a week since he'd found out he'd fighting Baa-chan for his right to wear the Leaf hirai-ate. The masked shinobi stared at him and then spoke. His message was short and to the point,

"It is time. Come to the Chuunin arena immediately," a second later and the ANBU had poofed away. Now all the time he'd spent training was about to be put to the test. He sighed and blurred out of sight.

* * *

Tsunade was still pouring over paperwork and mission reports on Naruto. There really wasn't all that much to go on. She would probably just have to grin and go for it. Hopefully Naruto would slip up and reveal something. If his recent battle with Sasuke was anything to go by, Naruto was a little adverse to taijutsu, which she was well known for. Naruto would know this, though, and would probably do everything in his power to avoid getting within her reach. A knock at the door made her look up from the report on Team Seven's mission to Wave Country with that bridge builder. Speaking of Team Seven, there was Sakura.

"Uh…Tsunade-sensei, Danzo-san says that it's time. You are supposed to go to the Chuunin exam arena now." Why was Tsunade's mouth so dry? She nodded and stood, walking for the door, wondering what the battle would be like.

* * *

Naruto was nervous. And he never got nervous before a battle. How would this turn out? Could he really throw a kunai at his beloved Baa-chan? Would she really break his jaw (and skull in the same blow)? The answer was give to him by no one. Yes. He could to it, and she would be trying to break him in half. He grinned, excited now. This would be one helluva fight. But there was still one thing to take care of.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**." When the clone appeared, the copy promptly peeled off his shirt and the real Naruto bit his thumb to make it bleed. Now he inked out a very complex seal out onto the clone's back. It was a Tenma Fuu, a demon seal. Kyuubi called it a simple one. Naruto called it a gigantic headache. The seal was easily more complex than the one that locked Kyuubi inside of him. A lot more complex. More dangerous too. If he screwed up one line, the seal would be ruined and if he activated it, it would do something _very_ bad.

'**Looks good to me.'** The fox sent Naruto a quick burst of youki and he pressed it to the seal. It flamed a bright crimson before burning itself to the clone's back. At the same time, the gentle pressure in the back of Naruto's head vanished as the Kyuubi's essence was transferred to the clone. When the Bunshin finished twitching and convulsing, it turned around and regarded him. The eyes were red and slitted, like a cat's and the whisker marks had thickened and darkened, now looking like real whiskers. The Bunshin's hair was also a little more wild and fluffy looking, more like fur than hair. Naruto just shook his head,

"This seal is always creepy." He looked the Kyuubi over, "Do I always look like that when you give me your chakra?"

"**Don't ask me, Brat, I don't have a mirror**." The fox's voice was deep and bass-like. "**Are you going to go through with this or not?**"

"Yeah. I don't have a choice, and this is the best method I know of to keep me from being tempted to use your chakra." The possessed clone nodded and began to walk off.

"Kyuubi!" Naruto's voice stopped him.

"**What?**" Naruto reached into his backpack that he'd brought with him and pulled out the cloak he had worn when he'd first come back to Konoha, now minus the Oto hirai-ate plate. He tossed it to the fox, who promptly pulled it on and raised the hood, concealing his demonic features. Now the demon walked off, most likely to find a seat.

"Naruto!" Now it was Naruto's turn to see who was calling him. It was Tsunade.

"Baa-chan!" The Hokage smiled, keeping up a friendly appearance, despite the fact that they would be beating the crap out of each other in few minutes time. The two began to walk into the stadium.

"Nervous?" she asked. Naruto smirked,

"Not on your life. I'll mop the floor with you!" Tsunade laughed and tapped the young man on the forehead.

"I'm not gonna make it easier for you!" The end of the tunnel into the arena floor was fast approaching. They kept up their lively banter, each feeling their heart begin to pound. Now the pair stepped into the blinding sunlight and were met by the deafening cheers of a capacity crowd.

"Did they tell you that there would be spectators?" Naruto murmured.

"No. This has to be Danzo's doing. You can see what he's trying to do right?"

"Yeah. For the ROOT commander, he's not that subtle. He's hoping to see me banished or you KO'd so he has an excuse to execute me." Tsunade nodded, having reached the same conclusion.

"And you're not worried?" Naruto shook his head with a knowing grin and nodded discretely over her left shoulder. When she looked, she saw a familiar cloaked figure.

"Is that you?"

"Sorta. It's Kyuubi possessing a Shadow Clone." Tsunade's eyes widened.

"How?"

"Tenma Fuu. Took the damn furball three weeks to make that one. He says the _really_ complex ones take upwards of a year."

"A YEAR!?" She couldn't believe her ears. Were the seals really that complex? If a simple one took three weeks… Well when you were an immortal demon, time didn't really matter.

A familiar senbon-chewing jounin was waiting for them.

"Are you ready?" Genma asked. He couldn't believe he'd been assigned to this. But what the council wanted, they got. It didn't matter what he thought. He saw their confirming nods. "You both know the terms?" Another pair of nods. "Well then, begin when you're ready."

"I hope you're ready to get your ass kicked, Baa-chan." Both were starting to limber up, running through their various stretches.

"Yeah right. You better hope that I don't get my hands on you." Naruto shuddered, "I'll mess you up." Now the two were ready. They walked to within a few feet of each other. Naruto stuck out his hand,

"May the best shinobi win, Baa-chan." Tsunade grinned and grasped his hand. They released and stood there. Tsunade was allowing her chakra to rise and hopefully overpower Naruto's, making him effectively paralyzed and an easy win for her. Those hopes were shattered when Naruto matched her easily. Hm, this would be tougher than she had originally predicted. And the Fire Shadow had known it would be tough to begin with. Her blond opponent smirked at her,

"You're gonna have to do better than that, Baa-chan," Naruto called to her as their respective chakras continued to rise. Tsunade felt her eyes widening as the chakra match went on. He was almost as powerful as a sannin! No wonder he'd been able to kill Orochimaru! Fine. It was time to stop with this little game and actually get down and dirty.

The Hokage charged headlong into battle.

Naruto could feel the strain in his bones as he continued to try and match the Sannin's power. He kept up a brave face even as he tried to dredge up the chakra to keep on par with her. The amount of chakra the old lady had was incredible!

'Baa-chan hasn't been slacking off for these last five years,' he thought grimly. This was bound to be his toughest battle yet, bar none. 'I'm really gonna have to pull out all the stops to beat her!' His eyes widened as his adoptive grandma sprinted straight at him, her fist cocking back to crack him in the jaw! If that landed, it would make this a _very_ bad day! He jumped away, trying to put a little distance between him and the village's leader. Now Naruto pulled out a single shuriken. Time to show Granny Tsunade what tricks he'd learned while he'd been away. And he would start with one of the Sandaime's favorites!

* * *

Sakura let out a small gasp. Or several small ones. She recognized what was happening to her. Chakra paralysis. She was hyperventilating; a side-effect to being is such close proximity to such powerful, clashing chakras. The only way to counter it was to try and match the offending power, but the pink-haired girl knew that that wasn't going to happen. The sheer amount of strength her blond friend had developed was astounding! A gloved hand on her shoulder made her jump,

"Are you okay, Sakura?" She turned to see who had spoken and came face to…err…mask?

"Kakashi-sensei! What are you doing here?" The question was stupid, she knew, but she just had to ask. Her former sensei's visible eye curved up in the one way she knew he was smiling.

"I just thought I'd come and see how everyone's favorite knucklehead is doing," he replied with a light tone, giving no indication that he was even the slightest bit affected by the two powerhouse chakras clashing down below. Now his eye grew serious,

"Maybe you should be away from all this, Sakura," he said. "Who is fighting aside, I don't think you're taking the chakra levels very well." That was true. Kakashi could see that she wasn't reacting well at all. In the few moments he'd been watching her, she had grown pale and started to sweat. Sakura was one of the lucky ones though. The stadium had a capacity crowd, no doubt everyone wanting to see the 'fox-brat' get banished from the village. The civilians clearly were getting the worst of it. The masked shinobi could see more that one in the same state as his old student and even more who had passed out.

"No," Sakura replied, shaking her head, shocked that Kakashi could even suggest that kind of thing. "I can't leave." Their conversation was cut short by a cry from the arena floor below them,

"**Ninpou**! **Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**!" The single shuriken Naruto had pulled out and thrown suddenly multiplied into many. Tsunade felt a jolt rip through her as the horde of shuriken spun towards her. Where had Naruto learned that one? Not the time to be worrying about that. She had to dodge. And the best jutsu for this was also one of the most basic.

* * *

Kyuubi watched from the shadows of the stands as the brat's shuriken hit the big-chested woman full on. A long canine glinted as the demon's mouth pulled back into a smirk. He could smell the surprise from the woman all the way up here. His smirk vanished when the falling body exploded into a log and fell to the ground with a dull 'clunk.'

He felt a rush of pride when his cage didn't gape and gasp like all the fools around him did. Through the tenuous mental link he still had with Naruto, he felt the boy's concentration tighten and the blond started looking all around for the Hokage. It had taken him damn near three years for the demon drill into Naruto that, when your opponent used the Kawarimi no Jutsu, you didn't gape like an idiot. You got your head out of your ass and started to look around.

"Did you teach him that?" The voice came from behind the fox, but he didn't turn. He had caught the scent of toad oil a few minutes before.

"**And if I did**?" Kyuubi asked in return. Jiraiya scowled at the demon's tone. Really, no respect from some people. Not that the Toad Hermit had expected it from a millennia-old demon who had come close to wiping out this very village.

"I just wanna make sure that you aren't setting him up with all these jutsu only to sweep him aside in a year or two." The cloaked head turned to regard him and then it cocked to one side.

"**Why would I do that**?" Damn, how much sarcasm could you load into five words?

"Just answer the question you damn fox. Why Naruto even let you possess him, I'll never know." Jiraiya bit out. "What lies did you tell him, huh?" When Kyuubi spoke again, his tone was laced with the undercurrents of simmering anger,

"**That's what I hate most about you damn humans**. **Always think that we demons tell nothing but lies**. **Tell me, Toad Man, in your infinite wisdom, did you ever stop to consider the possibility that Naruto and I might have worked out a mutually beneficial deal**?" Jiraiya scoffed,

"'Mutually beneficial deal?'" he repeated skeptically. "Since when do demons make deals with humans?" Next thing the old Sannin knew, he was slammed up against the wall by a single clawed hand.

"**I should squash you right now, Tadpole**." Kyuubi growled, a faint red vapor beginning to surround his form, "**But I won't**. **I gave Naruto my word that I would protect his friends just as fiercely as he would**. **Normally, you would be right and I would still be trying to find a way to get out of him**. **But his bastard father made sure I can't do that**! **Our inner coils have meshed together so badly, this is the only way I can leave**. **Say what you want about me, Tadpole, but if there are two things I am, they are honorable and pragmatic**. **I found a way to make the best of my rather dismal situation, and I followed through**. **We kitsune also keep our word**.** I told Naruto I wouldn't try to brush him aside and I fully intend to keep that promise**." He abruptly released Jiraiya and the old man crashed to the ground. By the time he'd sat up, Kyuubi was already back at his old position, watching the match unfold below.

"But why?" Jiraiya asked, to which he received no answer. Finally he got up and went to stand next to the fox. If he couldn't get a straight answer from Kyuubi, he decided, then he would have to take it up with Naruto at a later time. But it would have to wait until this match ended.

* * *

"C'mon, Baa-chan," Naruto muttered to himself. "Where the hell did you disappear to?" He was looking everywhere, trying to see just where the Fire Shadow had gone to. There was no sign of her, and the blond man couldn't pick out her chakra either. For some reason, he flashed on the first match he'd ever fought in, that thrice-damned bell exam with Kakashi-sensei and the original Team Seven. How Kakashi had used Shinjuu Zanshuu no Jutsu to catch Sasuke. A thrill surged through his system and he jumped back.

The earth in front of him burst apart and a fist shot out, aiming for his gut. Thankfully, his jump and the resulting distance increase softened the blow. It still hurt like hell though, as he hurtled across the stadium to smash into the opposite wall with a massive dust cloud following his impact. He was winded and in considerable pain. Every breath hurt. He must have busted a rib or three. Damn Baa-chan's freaky strength! Too bad the furball wasn't here to help heal it!

Tsunade pulled herself from the hole she'd dug. She didn't think she could pull it off, a Kawarimi into a Shinjuu Zanshuu. But she had, and now her little brother was meshed in with the wall on the other side of the stadium. The crowd went crazy at her success in landing the first blow of the battle. Everyone, except those who knew Naruto well, figured that she would win without fail. Tsunade smirked at the notion. It would take more that a little tap to make the Yondaime's son go down for the count!

There was one thing that Naruto never failed to do, and that was to be unpredictable. His use of her sensei's signature jutsu proved that. Even Sarutobi himself would have been caught off guard by that stunt! Now it was just a matter of time until Naruto did something else.

The wait was a short one, no sooner than he'd peeled himself out of the wall, Naruto let loose another jutsu,

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" Now, the Fifth was surrounded by a fair number of Shadow Clones, all of them looking ready to go on the offensive. Looks like it was time to show off a new jutsu of her own!

Naruto grinned as he sprinted straight toward Baa-chan in the center of the ring of clones. This particular application served as both a way to make sure than she couldn't get away, and a set up for a jutsu that had yet to fail! Sasuke-bastard had been so _pissed_ the first time Naruto had unveiled it. Just as he caught sight of Tsunade, he skidded to a stop. She had a wicked grin on her face and was balanced on one foot, with the other sticking straight into the air.

'Crap! Not good!'

"**Doton: Doryuusen!**" The second foot came crashing to the ground with such force that the impact sprayed rocks everywhere. The projectiles, along with the resultant rush of displaced air, dispelled every clone and sent the real Naruto tumbling. When the smoke cleared, Tsunade was standing in a fair sized crater.

'Well, that worked. I never thought that I would be able to make up a jutsu on the fly like that.' A groan caught her attention as Naruto picked himself up, holding his head like he had a concussion. Guilt ripped through the Fire Shadow and she promised herself that she would heal Naruto the first chance she got.

"Nice trick, Baa-chan," Naruto said, just loud enough for Tsunade to hear as he managed to stagger back upright. "How the hell did you do it?" She grinned with a certain amount of pride,

"My chakra. I got the idea from you, actually." At the blonde's puzzled gaze she elaborated, "Normally I would have kept the chakra to a minimum and controlled it. This time, I gathered as much as I thought I'd need and let it all explode on impact."

"Nice. 'Earth-Dragon Strike, huh? Good name. Now let me show you an old favorite." He held a hand casually out in front of him. The air over his palm began to spin and swirl. Everyone's eyes focused on the blond just before the Rasengan fully formed, spinning like a possessed hurricane over Naruto's palm. "I'm not done." He took his other hand and began to tap the swirling blue sphere here and there. Tsunade was confused. Naruto had already shown her that he could do a one-handed Rasengan, so why was he…using… Oh! SHIT! He was going to use his element!

"**Fuuton: Rasengan!**" Now the sphere was swirling even faster, but with little blades of wind chakra spiking out from the surface here and there. This wasn't good. It that hit her, she would either die or lose this battle, whichever happened first. That new jutsu of hers was literally only a minute or two old! She'd used too much chakra on the first one to think about a second one, and she didn't have enough time to build up for a clone jutsu or a replacement! Just gonna have to deal with this head on!

While everyone thought that Naruto's technique was flawless, the two beings who actually taught him knew different.

"**The idiot's lost it.**" Kyuubi commented, shaking his hooded head, "**He's trying **_**that**_** after not using it for five years? Damn fool.**"

"Five years?" Jiraiya asked skeptically. "He hasn't used Rasengan for five years? And he can do it with one hand?" He mimicked the Kyuubi, shaking his head at Naruto's foolishness. Using the advanced form of Rasengan after five years of non-use? This wasn't going to end well.

"**The brat's always had excellent chakra memory.**" Kyuubi replied, shocking the hell out of Jiraiya, who'd been expecting some smart-ass answer. "**Relearning Rasengan wouldn't be that hard for him. The problem is using only two hands for the element manipulation. He's always had to use a Kage Bunshin. Trying like that, **_**now**_**, of all times. He's asking for it.**" Both human and demon watched with bated breath as the blond sprinted for Tsunade one more time.

The Fifth grinned as she thought of the perfect way for her to counter this situation. Memories of the past would help both of them out now. And this wouldn't take too much chakra either as an added bonus. Tsunade raised her hand, flat like a blade, and smashed it into the ground as hard as she could. The force of her chakra being released sent a huge fissure streaking towards Naruto, who saw it too late and stepped into the void that had suddenly opened beneath his feet.

Naruto felt his stomach rise into his throat as his foot hit air. He pitched forward, and the Rasengan slammed headlong into the ground at the Fifth's feet. An explosion rocked the entire arena as the blond lost control of his jutsu and sent both combatants tumbling head over heels on the blast wave. When the smoke and dust finally settled, both Naruto and Tsunade were lying facedown on the earth, a massive crater in the space between them.

Tsunade grunted as she tried to push herself up to her feet and continue the fight. For some reason though, her body chose not to respond. She was conscious and still had chakra left. So why couldn't she move? The answer was simple, the explosion. The chakra backlash, combined with the blast, had taken its toll on her stamina. Ordinarily, she would be able to stand up, but with the stress of the past few weeks, what with the Oto invasion and her subsequent battle with the Uchiha traitor, added with the lack of sleep preparing for this very battle, meant that she wasn't at 100. A system of events that seemed insignificant in themselves, but added together meant that she couldn't move.

Naruto wasn't faring much better. Baa-chan had been a few feet from the explosion. He'd had it _in the palm of his hand_! Now he was roughed up, cut up, and with several smashed ribs. Not to mention all the minor fractures that had to be all over his body. He sure felt like it. The blond felt like he'd been run over a few times with Chouji's Meat Tank. His mind felt like Ino had used her Shintenshin on it over and over and over. Simply put, he was whipped. The drain on his chakra had been substantial. Sure, he'd only used a few jutsu, but they were big ones, and, like everyone kept telling him, his chakra control wasn't that great. It was way better than it used to be, but it still sucked when compared to someone who had a similar amount of strength and skill.

"Come on Naruto! Get your lazy ass UP!" the voice made him twist his head to see who the hell was yelling. It was Sakura. His eyes cleared somewhat and he felt the various aches dull. "Are you gonna let this keep you away from the village!? Well!?"

"No," He ground out, answering even though Sakura-chan couldn't hear him. "I can't lose here! I _won't_!" He pushed as hard as he could to raise his body even a few inches. More cheers greeted his efforts, every single one of them coming from his friends.

"You can do it!" Ino shouted, sticking a defiant fist in the air.

"Since when are you a lazy bum?" Shikamaru asked. He only slightly raised his voice. It was too damn troublesome to yell.

"We can go out for ramen!" Chouji and Iruka shouted together.

"I didn't train a stupid loser!" Jiraiya screamed, so loud that the demon next to him had to cover his ears or go deaf for the rest of his life.

"If you do not succeed, I will kill you." That from both Neji and the Sand trio.

"I'll give you a free katana!" Tenten shouted. Maybe Naruto would like a nice new pointy object?

"The Fire of Youth is with you!" No need to see who had shouted that one. _Only_ Rock Lee would shout that. On and on it went, till the last one had called out to him,

"Become Hokage Naruto-aniki!" The weary blond looked straight up in front of him and saw a grinning Konohamaru along with Udon and Moegi. All three were screaming the phrase over and over. He looked down and somehow found the strength to shove himself onto his knees. Across from him, Tsunade had managed to get to her feet.

'Baa-chan did it,' he thought. He grinned and dug deep down. 'And anything an old lady can do…' A final, desperate shove, and he surged to his feet, 'I can do!' Cheers split the sky as the entire stadium began screaming and stamping, calling encouragement to either Naruto or the Hokage. The two opponents grinned at each other.

"I don't know about you, Naruto," Tsunade called to him, "But I don't have any chakra left! One last blow?"

"Yeah. One last blow to decide it all!" The two ran at each other and drew back. A hush fell over the crowd as duo closed on each other. This was it. Would Naruto stay, or go? The seconds dragged on. For Naruto and Tsunade, the world around them faded as their fists sailed toward the other's face, in seeming slow motion.

They crashed together and the world went white.

* * *

Say it with me. CLIFFHANGER! Heh, am I evil or what? Sorry for those of you who thought that this took a long time. I have been home for the last week from college and, since my retarded roommate sold his X-Box, guess what I've been doing? But the good news is I'm starting to get bored with it and that means I should be picking up the pace for both The Dissapearance and The Ultimate Ace. When to expect the next chapter? I dunno, sometime after I update Ultimate Ace. I alternate. Update one then the other. Simple yet effective, no? Read and Review, as always. 

**Glossary:**

**Doton: Doryuusen (Earth Style: Earth Dragon Strike)**. Once again, any Kenshin fans recognize this one? One of my personal favorites, besides Ryuusousen. Tsunade came up with this on the fly to counter the ring of Kage Bunshins Naruto had made. Essentially just like Kenshin's move in the RuroKen manga, except adapted for the Naruto world. Credit goes to Watsuki-san for this. I just bastardized it.

**Chakra Memory:** Y'know how sometimes the charachters of Naruto do jutsu like Bunshin and Kawarimi without any hand seals? This is my explanation for it. Just like muscle memory except with chakra. If you repeat a jutsu enough times, your chakra remembers how to mold itself, allowing the user to use the jutsu with less or no hand seals than with someone who doesn't use it as often. Original (I think. Correct me if I'm wrong) Concept.

**Kawarimi no Jutsu (Art of Replacement):** The Naruto vets out there should already know this one, but I'll explain for the newbies. It's when the person turns into a log and goes somewhere else. Everyone in the Naruto universe knows this one.

**Ninpou: Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Ninja Art: Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique): **Just like Kage Bunshin except with Shuriken instead of the person doing the jutsu.

**Fuuton: Rasengan (Wind Release: Spiraling Sphere): **Just like Rasengan except with the user's element manipulation in it. Naruto is a wind-type so it's a wind type Rasengan.

**Youkai Kage Bunshin (Demon(ic) Shadow Clone): **Uses the Tenma Fuu to put Kyuubi's spirit into a Shadow Clone. Downside is that Naruto cannot use any of the fox's chakra and he loses his healing ability.

I think that's all the jutsu in this chapter. If I missed any from a previous chapter or this one, please feel free to send me a PM. All I ask is that you make sure that it isn't referenced in a previous chapter before telling me. If you haven't noticed by now, I only explain the jutsu once.


	7. Explanations

Disclaimer: See nothing. Hear nothing. Own Nothing

Last time: Naruto and Tsunade's battle begins. It climaxes with the two resolving to finish it with one final blow.

This time: The conclusion to the fight, and a glimpse of just what Naruto was doing while away from Konoha, along with another explanation, and a hint at what's coming for Naurto.

* * *

A hush fell over the stadium as the two slammed together with an echoing 'thud'. The duo bounced apart, blood trailing from two simultaneous face shots. Tsunade and Naruto crashed to the ground, laying spread eagle, neither was moving. Slowly, babble broke out among the crowd, mostly wondering what the council would do in the event of a tie.

Kyuubi and Jiraiya watched in complete silence. The fox was probing Naruto as hard as the weakened mental link would allow. The demon's heart nearly quit when he realized that, despite the brutal hit, the blond was still conscious. His jaw hurt. That was painfully evident, even over a reduced link.

"Dammit kid, get up!" The Toad Man murmured beside him. The Kyuubi almost felt sorry for the old codger. He knew how tight the brat and old man were. To tear the two apart would be devastating for both. Kyuubi really hoped that it wouldn't come to pass.

Tsunade was wafting in and out of consciousness. She wasn't out, but she wasn't responsive either. What she _did_ know, even in this drifting state of mind, was that she wasn't going anywhere. If Naruto could just get back to his feet, this battle was his. She was vaguely aware of the crowd beginning to scream things at her, to get her to lift up to her feet.

'Nothing doing,' she thought dimly, wanting very much to give into the haze and slip into blissful temporary oblivion, but she just couldn't for some reason. It was as if her body wanted her to stay awake to witness the outcome. The shouts continued, but the Godaime knew that this was the end. She could barely feel her limbs and there wasn't any chance that her legs would support her. A gentle smile spread on her face and she relaxed, waiting for the end, either with Naruto getting up, or with the both of them passing out.

Naruto was in a similar situation, but he was slightly more aware. That was due to a feeble prodding in the back of his mind that refused to go away and let him go to sleep. Only one thing could do that to him. Kyuubi. That damn furball kept poking at him. It wasn't nearly as forceful as it could be, but it was annoying nonetheless, like a little brother who just won't listen to what you say. He knew what would make it stop. Getting up was the only damn way the fox would just let him be. The blond grunted and began to gather what little strength he had left.

'C'mon Naruto, get up.' The will to stand began to burn with a vengeance in his head and the former missing-nin gave a huge shove… and successfully managed to flop himself onto his stomach. Brilliant. Now he _really_ had nothing left. He wouldn't stand without help. He felt a hard gaze on his back. When Naruto looked up, he could just barely see Gaara looking down at him with a look of stony indifference. The coldness shocked him, like the Kazekage was regretting being Naruto's friend. That cut straight to his soul. Gaara was a true friend, even a brother because of their shared fate.

No longer able to meet the hard stare, Naruto dropped his gaze, and saw a crack in the wall, just deep enough and low enough for his hand. He began to work his shoulders and chin, dragging his body across the ground just as he'd done with Gaara all those years ago. He'd show the Sand-nin that he still had it.

* * *

Sakura watched with wide eyes as her last remaining teammate crawled, almost pathetically, over to the wall. What was he going to do? She could see that he was completely drained of chakra and stamina. Naruto had about as good a chance of standing as Suna had of getting snow! But she knew deep down that the blond would never let something like this stop him. When he'd rescued her from Gaara was proof of that.

"Come on, Naruto," she whispered to no one. "You can do it."

* * *

Naruto was only feet from his goal. All that was left was to get his hand into the crack and pull himself up. Now the only challenge was to get his hand up that high. The blond dug deep down into the last reserves he had left and managed to slot a shaking hand into the crack. Now he began to strain, trying to raise his entire weight with only one weak arm.

"Little whelp hasn't changed that much," Jiraiya's comment made his demonic companion nod grimly. The blond missing-nin truly didn't know when to give up. Now he was tossing his body, trying as hard as he could to get a leg under him.

Naruto succeeded.

The blond grinned happily as he finally got his right leg into a position to help support him. Now on one knee, as if about to pop the question, he threw himself against the wall, trying to gain whatever support he could. Finally, after what had seemed an eternity, he was slouching against the wall. It wasn't good enough for Naruto though. He wanted to stand on his own.

He pushed off, and staggered out towards the middle of the arena. It was a feat just to move his legs. Each one felt like a pillar of lead. A rushing noise was filling his ears and his vision was slowly starting to resemble a view through a straw. He knew that he wouldn't last much longer.

* * *

The council members sitting in the Kage box were stunned beyond any hope of relief. Danzo was about to blow every capillary in his body as the staggering figure of Naruto stumbled from behind the tree where the blond had crawled to get to his feet.

"Sai!" He thundered. The pale-faced man was at his side faster that it took one to blink. The ROOT graduate was fully decked out with ANBU gear and served as Danzo's number one soldier, unsurpassed in skill and loyalty.

"Yes Danzo-sama?" He asked with his usual fake smile.

"You've worked with that demon. What drives him?" The ROOT leader asked, trying to figure out why his plan to expel or kill the demon was failing before his eyes and dying even more with every step Naruto took. Sai looked at the figure shambling across the arena floor and turned to Danzo.

"Naruto is driven by his convictions and determination, nothing more nothing less. The reason your plan has failed, Danzo-sama, is because your determination doesn't match his." With that simple explanation, the pale man left.

* * *

Tsunade managed a weak smile as Naruto stopped and towered over her, his grin lighting up his face.

"Welcome back, Naruto." She said in a barely audible voice. Then she was finally able to give in to the all-consuming lethargy plaguing her body and dropped into unconsciousness.

Genma smiled as he raised his hand into the air, before leveling it at the exhausted blond and shouting,

"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!" Cheers split the stadium's heretofore quiet as all the blonde's friends jumped up, with the exception of the more stoic ones, crying, shouting, and whistling, making more noise that the entire stadium. And they weren't the only ones. Naruto had won many a veteran shinobi's respect with his stunts at the south wall and they were also cheering for the wayward blonde's return. Everyone who hadn't been at the wall, though, just got up and left, disgusted at the blonde's success.

* * *

"Danzo-sama, what are we going to do about this?" One of the council members asked the tense Council Spokesman. The ROOT was breathing rapidly, trying to figure a way out.

"We don't reinstate him." He replied simply, wiping a little spittle from his suddenly soaked mouth. "Yes. Yes, that's it. Matters of missing-nin reinstatement are left in the hands of the council for this very reason."

"I'm not sure I follow you, Danzo-sama." Replied that same member. "What do you mean?"

"He means the current emotional situation between the Hokage and Uzumaki." Everyone shut up to listen to what Hyuuga Hiashi had to say. He was well known for his strict running of his household, which meant that he knew the rules cover to cover. "If the reinstatement of missing-nins was left solely to Hokage and _only_ the Hokage, that one person could possibly have strong emotional attachments to the missing-nin in question and allow their emotions to blind them to the threat posed to the village. The hope was that the council wouldn't be so blind and would deal with a missing-nin in an expedient manner, benefitting the village as a whole."

"Hiashi-sama is correct," Danzo said, nodding, "we have the final say on if Uzumaki becomes a genin again or not."

"Moot point, Danzo." It Sarutobi's old friend and aide. "We have entered into an official agreement with the Hokage. It is binding. Breaking this agreement is grounds for execution without trial, as laid down by the Shodai Hokage and the First Council." He glared at the scheming councilman, green glasses flashing. "Do you hate Uzumaki, no, _Naruto-san_,so much that you are willing to give up your own life?"

"Watch your tongue, Councilman! You dare attach an honorific to a demon?" Danzo's face was close to mad now, as he yelled at the older man. Clearly his hatred for the Jinchuuriki was deeper than most.

"Yes I dare!" The old firebrand returned, just as loudly. "That man has saved our village and proven himself a worthy shinobi! We would be the greatest fools in all of Konoha's history to let him go!" With a furious roar, Danzo leapt from his chair at the old man, a hidden kunai flashing from his sleeve…

Only to be stopped by a second kunai placing itself right against his throat, and one quick tap on his legs and arms that made the limbs turn into jelly. The only thing that kept his neck from being slashed was a powerful hand that seized him by the scruff of his collar and held him up.

"Thank you Kakashi-san, Jiraiya-sama, Hiashi-sama." The three shinobi nodded in return. Kakashi and Jiraiya, though in the stands, had been watching the box with cautious eyes after they sensed Danzo's agitated chakra. When the pair had spotted Danzo making his leap, both had used Shunshin to get over to the endangered councilman as quickly as they could. "Kakashi-san," at the man's call, the masked nin looked at him with a puzzled eye, kunai still held to Danzo's throat, his other hand casually in his pocket.

The bespectacled man gave him a smirk, "You're slipping. On time again. What would Obito-san say?"

Hatake snorted, understanding that the man was thanking him in a roundabout way, "He would yell, scream, and carry on before attempting to kick my ass."

* * *

Down on the field, Naruto was swaying on his feet. He heard the announcement from Genma and had a satisfied fox-grin on his face that was more dazed than coherent. Finally, his vision, which had gone from a straw to a coffee stir, went completely. With it went his hearing and Naruto keeled over, pitching forward, looking for the world as if he would hit the ground.

"Oh no!" Sakura cried as she rushed for the falling blond. She needn't have bothered though. Kyuubi had felt it coming and was at Naruto's side in a black blur, catching the blonde's arm and stopping his fall before the pink-haired girl had left her seat.

"**Damn brat. Overdid it again.**" The possessed clone muttered, his exasperation clear. In the next second, he was swarmed by all of the brat's friends who were all clamoring at once, asking everything from who he was to if Naruto was okay.

"Sakura-chan, lets get Tsunade-sama and Naruto-kun to the hospital now. They both need healing and a _long_ rest." Everyone turned around and saw Shizune striding towards them, already filling out a sheet on a clipboard.

"Sure, I'll get Tsunade-sensei." Sakura said and bounded over to her sensei, scooping her up in a fireman's carry. Kyuubi, conversely, just threw Naruto over his shoulder like a half-empty sack of potatoes, mutely saying that _he_ would lug the blond to the hospital.

* * *

The first thing Naruto became aware of were the voices babbling in the background, and they all seemed to be talking, rather rudely in his opinion, to someone in the room.

"Just answer the damn question!" The raging voice was backed up by an angry bark, which meant the one talking was Kiba. The response was calm and silky; butter wouldn't have melted in the speaker's mouth,

" **What's it to you, dog-boy?**" The voice asked. Naruto struggled to open his eyes. He knew that voice anywhere. Kyuubi.

"Why you!"

"Kiba, calm down." The low voice had to belong to one of three people, Shino, Neji or Gaara. Judging by the fact that the speaker had used Kiba's name, the blond was willing to bet it was Shino.

"You should at least tell us why you won't leave Naruto." This newest person spoke from right beside him, close enough for him to smell. Whoever it was smelled like flowers. Sakura-chan maybe? Kyuubi's response wasn't as scathing this time,

"**I don't have to say anything. If you really want to know why I won't leave, ask that catatonic baka over there.**"

"HEY! WHO'RE YOU CALLING BAKA, BAKA!?" Naruto yelled sitting bolt upright. He instantly regretted it, as the room spun and warped around him. Sakura grabbed him and eased him back onto the pillows, which were the stereotypical itchy linen found in most hotels and hospitals allowed him to relax and regain his bearings.

"Easy, Naruto. You shouldn't be doing stuff like that right after you wake up. Idiot." Sakura chastised as she compulsively straightened the sheets then looked over behind her. Naruto followed her gaze and saw Baa-chan lying in the bed next to him on the other side of the huge bank of monitors and sensors and various medical implements that monitored their vital signs.

"Naruto, can you tell us why the hell tall, dark, and creepy over there won't get out of here?" Naruto turned a weary gaze onto Kiba as the dog user stabbed an accusing finger at the cloaked figure standing in the corner of the room. Naruto didn't respond immidiatly as he was trying to figure out how to tell the group who this guy was without revealing that the cloaked man was, in fact, Kyuubi.

"Why don't we go outside and let Naruto see if he can't convince this guy to leave?" Naruto felt a rush of gratitude towards Sakura as the med-nin led all his visitors out and, from the sound of her words, to the break room. Now it was only Kyuubi, Naruto, and an unconscious Tsunade.

"**Y'know, you can't keep avoiding the fact that one day you'll have to tell them about me**," Kyuubi said, lowering his hood to reveal his demonic features. "**I could tell them myself if you want.**" Naruto shook his head,

"No. I'll tell them myself. Not now though, I want them to readjust to having me around. I don't need to make that any more difficult for them." Kyuubi shrugged and undid the clasp of the cloak, tossing it to the blond who caught it with the hand that didn't have an IV lodged in it, and stashed it under his pillow.

"Hold it," Naruto said as the fox began to peel off his orange shirt so Naruto could release the seal and Kyuubi could once again inhabit his body. The possessed clone looked at his host with a puzzled glance.

"**What?**"

"Open the window before you do that. We can use that as an excuse to say you left." The fox nodded and crossed to the window, yanking it open and allowing the late summer wind to lift the white curtains with a refreshing breeze that smelled like a fresh mountain wind. Then the fox crossed to Naruto and pulled off his shirt, turning around and allowing Naruto access to the complex seal burned into the clone's back like some perverse tattoo. The blond found the mark that would break the seal and focused what little youki he had access without Kyuubi into his palm, and then pressed his hand to the mark. The crimson chakra shot over the black seal until every mark burned with the youki, before the seal let off a hissing noise, accompanied a few wisps of vapor as the black lines receded and vanished.

The clone dispelled with a second sharp hissing noise, instead of the usual 'poof' noise, and the smoke that came with it was more abundant, twisting and writhing, forming a vague shape of a leaping, snarling, kitsune before dissipating. Just in time too, because no sooner had the smoke completely than the door opened and all the blonde's friends trouped back into the room.

"Great!" Kiba close to shouted, pumping a fist in the air as he noticed the open window. "You got that asshole to leave!"

'**Who's he calling 'asshole'?'** Kyuubi snarled, snapping his massive jaws in play anger. He turned giant red eyes on Naruto, **'Can I kill him?'**

Naruto laughed, knowing that his giant demon companion was only semi-serious. 'Sorry, Kyuubi. Kiba may be a loud jerk, but he's a good guy.'

'**Sounds like someone else I know.'** The fox responded. Naruto's only reply was a twitching eyebrow and to flip the fox the bird. The deep, booming laughter followed Naruto all the way to the front of his awareness.

"Naruto."

Naruto looked up at Sakura, who had resumed her spot on the wooden chair in between him and Baa-chan.

"Yeah?"

"That was…" She glanced furtively at the others who were engaged in a lively conversion, "That was _him_ wasn't it?"

Naruto's eyes widened at the statement. He'd told her about Kyuubi during that mission to Suna a while back to rescue Gaara, but even then, he hadn't expected her to pick up on the fact that his cloaked visitor had been the demon in the flesh. Noticing his sudden surprise, Sakura smiled, almost sadly.

"I could tell. He was wearing your cloak after all."

'**Huh. Maybe this little pink-haired girl is better than I give her credit for.'**

'Told ya.' Naruto was back at the forefront before the fox could make a snippy response. Suddenly a wave of extreme and total lethargy rocked his system. The blonde allowed himself to sink deeper into the pillow, feeling that blissful blackness stealing towards him again. This happened every time the Youkai Kage Bunshin was dispelled. The sudden reintroduction of the Kyuubi's psyche and the resurgence in his immense chakra took a very large chunk out of Naruto's stamina.

At least it wasn't it bad as it used to be. It used to be that when the Kyuubi came back, Naruto would pass out for almost a week. That was why both of the two occupants of Naruto's body didn't use the clone that much. Thankfully, the severity of the side effects had diminished the stronger Naruto got.

"Naruto? You okay?" Sakura sounded concerned. Naruto had slumped back and had turned a little pale. Even as she watched, his eyes fluttered as if the Yondaime look-a-like wanted to go to sleep, but didn't want to because she was talking to him. Well, if he needed to sleep, she could make that happen. "OKAY!" Dead silence met her words as all conversation stopped, "Naruto needs sleep! Everybody out!" The others, really there to keep Naruto feeling included, not to actually bug him, trooped out like so many ducklings, all of them welcoming him back and telling him they'd see him around.

Once the room was quiet, Naruto slipped off to sleep, looking forward to the day he got out of here.

* * *

"Now, Naruto," Tsunade said, looking at the reinstated genin over her steepled fingertips. A week had passed since their climactic duel, and now the two were sitting in the Hokage's office. Sakura, Shizune, Kakashi, Jiraiya, and the Godaime were all arrayed in front of the wraparound windows behind the mahogany desk. The Fifth continued, "We'd like for you to fill us in on all you've done." Before the blonde could launch into what he'd done for the past five years, Sakura broke in with a question that had her eyes open and vulnerable and her voice held a tinge of desperation,

"Naruto, did you really try to kill Sasuke this last time?" Everyone gave her a less than friendly look, not wanting the girl's personal feelings for the traitor to get in the way of Naruto's report. The Jinchuuriki, however, just regarded her with the serious blue eyes that no one seemed to get used to on his face. He closed his eyes and crossed his arms, considering his answer. After a minute or two, Naruto finally opened his eyes and stared straight at her. He decided to be blunt,

"Yes." It was clear to Naruto that no one in the room had expected _that_ particular bombshell. Sakura's shocked look tore straight to his soul. He really didn't want to go back on the promise he'd made to her when Sasuke had first left the village. When the kunoichi started to splutter half-formed questions, the Hokage held up a hand that cut off all further protests.

"Let's avoid that topic for now. Naruto, how about we start at the beginning of all this. Why did you leave the village?" Now the blond sighed, running a hand through his long blond hair. He faced the panel before him and began to speak,

"Sasuke. _All_ of this can be traced back to him. Leaving, joining Otogakure, killing Orochimaru…"

"Hold up a minute," Jiraiya interrupted. "That was you?"

"Yeah. Like I said, my entire motivation for doing what I did was to bring Sasuke back."

* * *

Fifteen-year-old Uzumaki Naruto lay in the hard hospital bed, covered in bandages, and also out cold. It was close to midnight and the full moon was filtering through the thin white curtains. The only sound, aside from the blonde's gentle breathing, was the slow 'beep…beep…beep' of the heart monitor, the only tool in the room that was indicating that the blond was still alive.

At first there was no movement from the laid-up genin, then his eyes twitched, slowly opening for the first time in almost two and a half weeks. After Naruto had managed to get the world into focus, he was crushed by a wave of guilt, self-loathing, and various other negative emotions. All of the emotions and the knowledge that he'd failed _again_ to bring Sasuke back was just too much for him and he wanted to just cut loose and cry, but his pride wouldn't allow it. What was crystal clear to the blond was the fact that he just wasn't powerful enough to take on Sasuke right now. Even with the stupid fox's help, Naruto had been utterly beaten.

He had to get stronger! And even Ero-sennin wouldn't be able to help with it. Naruto knew that he needed to do this on his own. His mind made up, he sat up, ignoring the nausea and dizziness that assaulted him, and staggered over to the cabinets that held his personal belongings. After several agonizing minutes, heaving on clothes that seemed to hurt him just by being in contact with his skin, he lugged his sluggish body to the window and opened it wide.

The balmy late summer night air stole his breath and made Naruto's head pound even more than it was already. The only thing that could have made it worse was if the wind was a late _fall_ breeze. Then Naruto wouldn't have even considered the stunt he was about to pull. As it was, he wasn't even sure if he could control his chakra enough to climb down the wall of the hospital.

'Well, no guts, no glory.' With that only slightly reassuring thought, Naruto focused chakra into his feet and began the long walk down the side of the hospital. Somehow, he made it to the bottom without falling on his head and killing himself. Then the genin began to sprint for the wall, doing something he'd never done before, and actually using his stealth skills. He found that he was even better than he'd even dreamed possible, flitting from shadow to shadow, almost invisible. As he ran, the ache deep in all his limbs and splitting headache began to fade with each step he took. He wouldn't learn until he and the Kyuubi fused that the fox had been responsible for it, but at the time he attributed it to the fresh air and exercise.

He was at the wall. Once Naruto scaled and crossed that, there was no turning back. He would be a missing-nin and he would be on the Bingo Book, hunted like Zabuza and Haku. Trepidation flooded him and Naruto took one last look at Konoha, questioning his decision to go through with this. Then Sakura-chan's face seemed to ghost into existence before him and his mind was made up. He could and _would_ do this. He had to.

The guard on the wall wasn't that attentive. He was bored; there was no two ways around it. After all, he was working the graveyard shift. His wife and single daughter were probably asleep and yet, here he was, wide-awake instead of in bed next to his wife. Could this get any more dull? The guard rubbed his head and turned to continue his patrol down the wall. He never noticed the dark blur shoot up the wall from the shadow of the house closest to the massive barrier and jump out into the night.

* * *

"So what did you do after you got over the wall?" Tsunade asked as Naruto fell into a brief silence. "We don't have the time to listen to your whole story. Give us a brief overview of what your training was like and then we'll get into what you've been doing within Otogakure."

"Fine by me. I traveled around and trained with some of the best from other villages. I never went into the towns themselves, though, because I had heard a whisper or two that a white-haired old pervert was on my trail. Didn't take much to figure out who it was."

"Hey!"

Now Kakashi broke in to the conversation. "So how did you manage to get into Oto? I was under the impression that Orochimaru didn't particularly care about you."

Naruto nodded in agreement. "No. You're right. Snake-bastard really did hate my guts, but he wasn't adverse to having the Kyuubi under his command. A nice little bit of acting on Kyuubi's part got us in. He spun this whole tale about possessing me. The idiot snake bought it, hook, line and sinker. Thought having Kyuubi under his command would give him a bargaining chip with the cloak-freaks."

"Speaking of the Nine-Tails," the Godaime interrupted. "When did you two fuse?"

"About two years ago." Glances were exchanged among the members of the panel, each member wondering if the fusion of Kyuubi and Naruto was a partial cause of Orochimaru's death. Shizune was the one who actually did the asking,

"Was fusing with Kyuubi what made you decide to kill Orochimaru?"

"Partially. It was definitely a factor. Without the fox and Isukumi, I wouldn't have been able to do it, that much is true."

"Wait, back up. Kyuubi was only a _partial_ reason you said?" Naruto smiled slightly at Kakashi's ever-present sight into the underlying text of a conversation or situation. "What was the other part to your reason for killing Orochimaru?"

"The same reason I had for leaving Konoha, training for a year and a half, and serving that bastard for two and a half."

"Sasuke?" The Copy-nin asked. Naruto nodded. "So why the sudden change of heart? What made you change from wanting to save him to wanting to kill him?" At the question, Sakura felt her heart begin to race. Now, now she would find out what would make Naruto break his promise to her and kill Sasuke-kun instead of saving him.

"Why the sudden change of heart?" Naruto repeated the question as if it was completely foreign to him, as if Sasuke's death had been his primary goal from the start. The blonde sighed before he answered. "It didn't happen right away, first I thought that just killing Orochimaru, taking away Sasuke's source of acquiring power, would convince him to come back."

"Obviously it didn't work out like you thought," Tsunade commented dryly.

"Obviously," Naruto returned just as dryly before moving on. "I managed to kill Orochimaru and I thought that I had done it. That Sasuke would listen to reason now that his sensei was gone. But there was a wrench in my perfect little plan." Here his hands tightened into fists, as if the memory of the snag still rankled him, even after a few years.

"What was this little flaw?" Jiraiya asked now, surprised at how his student's plan was at once one of the most sensible and most stupid he'd ever heard.

Naruto scowled heavily at the mere memory, "Juin Jutsu," he growled simply. "I didn't count on it. Or, more precisely, its side-effect." Once again, glances were exchanged among the members of the panel.

"What do you mean?" Jiraiya asked, knowing the effects of the Cursed Seal like the back of his hand. Or so he thought. "The corrosive effect on the mind of the user?"

Naruto shook his head. "No. A _hidden_ effect. Its last and probably worst."

"What do you mean?" The Fifth asked, concerned about this new ability of the seal that Sasuke bore.

"Baa-chan, do you remember how fast Sasuke-bastard was able to go from level 1 to level 2 really fast during your fight?"

The Godaime nodded, not about to forget that detail so fast. "Are you saying that his fast transformation is this new hidden ability?"

"No. It's _because_ of the new side-effect." Naruto noted the surprised reactions of everyone in the room.

"What are you saying?" Kakashi asked, clearly unable to shut up and let Naruto finish.

"I'm saying that Sasuke is now the master of the Cursed Seal." He plowed on before they could interrupt, drowning out Tsunade's questions and Sakura's pleas for another explanation to Sasuke's behaviour. "What that means is he has control over the seal. He no longer needs Orochimaru for a chakra boost because Sasuke has complete and total access to the seal's strengths and enhancements."

"That still doesn't explain why you want to kill Sasuke-kun!" Sakura was close to shouting now, not wanting to believe what Naruto was telling them.

"Really?" Tsunade asked her, a clear edge in her voice. The two had had a long talk about putting duty and the welfare of the village above her feelings for one person. Sakura had then been a subject of a brutal training session and been put on boring menial jobs for a few weeks, and not allowed to take on any mission above C rank until further notice. A tad harsh, some would say, but then, the fate of the village had been on the line at the time. The Fifth continued. "I think it explains Naruto's new goal to kill Sasuke quite clearly."

"Perhaps." Kakashi said abruptly. "But it still doesn't explain Sasuke's erratic behavior. He thought he could bring down Konoha with a head-on attack _and_ seemed to think that he was invincible."

"Not really surprising, considering who he's been studying with for the past, what, nine, ten years?" Jiraiya added. "Orochimaru was never really stable, and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"I have the answer for why Sasuke did what he did." All eyes turned to the blond still lounging in the plush leather chair. "The seal had to readjust to its new master. That little transition was more than a little painful and put a lot of stress on Sasuke's psyche. Add that to the corrosion done by the seal before and the corrosion since and Sasuke is either insane or real close to it."

"How do you know all this?" Tsunade asked. Naruto had never really been a fount of knowledge before, so to see Naruto having an answer for everything strange that had been happening in the last five years was good grounds for the Fifth's question.

Naruto grinned a low-watt version of his fox-grin. "I haven't been slacking off this last year. Did you think Kyuubi and I spent all our time killing Sound-nins? We spent a lot of time, any time we weren't training or hunting Oto guys, we were studying everything we could about Sasuke and the Curse Seal."

"Speaking of Orochimaru, was that you who delivered his head to Neji?" The Hokage asked. Naruto's blue eyes widened at her question.

"Wait, that was Neji? _Hyuuga_ Neji?" Naruto clearly had no clue at whom he'd thrown the head that night.

"I'll take that as a yes. And, yes, it was Neji." Tsunade answered.

"No shit? Huh, I thought it was some random guy."

"While we're on the subject, I have two things for you."

"What, Baa-chan?"

"The method you used to block Neji's Byakugan. Was that a Tenma Fuu?"

"Yeah. The fox was working on that one before we killed Snake-bastard. He finished it about five minutes before we got to the village."

"Did you have any idea if it would work?"

"Nope." Naruto's friends and surrogate family all facevaulted at the blonde's candor. _Only_ Naruto would approach a then-hostile village with an untested jutsu. Once everyone had picked themselves up, Tsunade strode out from behind the desk and came up to Naruto.

"Yeah?" Tsunade wound up and hit Naruto across the head so hard that he flew into the wall, leaving an imprint of his body.

"Uh…Tsunade-hime, why'd you do that?" Jiraiya asked as the Godaime came back to her desk and sat down, brushing her hands off. At the Toad-sennin's question, Tsunade glared at the blond with smoldering brown eyes.

"Because of him I was up at four in the damn morning!" The group sweat dropped at the Fifth's immaturity.

After Naruto had regained consciousness and crawled back to his seat, Tsunade once again steepled her fingers and surveyed Naruto with solemn eyes.

"So. Now we have a reasonably good idea why Naruto has done what he did, and we also know that there is no plausible hope of returning Uchiha Sasuke to Konoha." Naruto winced as Sakura's eyes got the saddest, most forlorn look he'd ever seen in the normally bubbly girl. "Now all that remains is what to do with you, Naruto."

The man gave his classic squint face. "Not following you, Baa-chan."

"You don't wanna remain a genin forever do you?" Naruto's eyes snapped open in surprise. She couldn't be serious. Could she? The Fifth smiled as she saw her adoptive little brother's face. "The Chuunin Exam is in one month. I know you don't have a team, but I can see what strings I can pull to try and get you in. I trust you'll pass this time?"

This time, Naruto's fox-grin was full power.

"You bet!" With that, the panel broke up and began to disperse, Tsunade putting her personal seal on the report of Naruto's 'mission' for lack of a better word. Now she had to see if she could get Naruto into the exam with another genin team or see if there wasn't some kind of clause that would let her bend that rule. Seeing as the Exams were an international event, she highly doubted it.

* * *

'Well. A whole month with nothing to do but train! Could it get any better than this?' Naruto asked his constant companion as he walked down the main thoroughfare of Konohagakure, his hirai-ate glinting proudly in the sun. It was the same one he'd had when he left Konoha the first time. The long tie strands whipped and flicked in the wind that blew down the road. The meeting with Baa-chan had taken most of the day, so the sun was low in the sky.

Not quite a sunset yet, that was still a way off, but it was getting to the point where the shadows began to lengthen, and one may need a pair of sunglasses or a hat. The whole deal was made even sweeter by the fact that Naruto was home again! Now. What to do with the remaining time in the day?

'**The two of us could find a nice wide training ground and beat the living hell out of each other?'** Naruto grinned at the suggestion.

'Nah. That would mean the Youkai Kage Bunshin and I don't feel like passing out again.'

'**Spoilsport. You take all the fun out of my life, you know that?'** Naruto had always thought it odd when he heard a several-millennia-old demon whining and pouting like he was a spoiled child…

'**Watch it Brat.'** All further possibility for a conversation was cut off when the bickering companions wandered past a familiar place.

Konohagakure Shinobi Academy.

After a long time of just wandering aimlessly, the blond stopped walking as he caught sight of the familiar façade of the school that had trained many great names like the Sandaime and Yondaime Hokages, Uchiha Itachi, before he went psycho, and some of Naruto's friends would even include him in that list. Naruto wondered briefly if it was open before thinking, screw it, it had never stopped him before, and hopped the wall that was more decoration than function. He shoved his hands deep in his pockets, almost like Kakashi did, and strode over the grounds, looking for any change big or small.

The blonde quit walking when he spotted the swing that he used to play on all the time. A nostalgic smile crossed his face as he approached the thing, taking a seat. He pushed off, swinging gently, allowing himself a brief moment of remembrance and relaxation, the first such moment he'd allowed himself in almost five years. After a few minutes, he got up and strode to the edge of the grounds, hopped the wall like before, and headed to the one person he hadn't spent much time with since he'd come back.

Umino Iruka rubbed his tired eyes. Naruto was back in town, but the scarred teacher hadn't been able to spend much time with his favorite student because of the fiasco with the council and Naruto and Tsunade-sama pounding each other back into the ground. Not to mention he'd had to fill out a report on his involvement with the whole Sasuke deal. Everyone who'd been involved with the battle had had to fill one out. The battle was technically a mission. According to the council anyway. Iruka thought that the idiots were just looking for a way to see if Naruto could be caught in the middle of a traitorous act.

Iruka smiled at the thought. Good luck with that. Hundreds of veteran shinobi had seen Naruto's heroic efforts. The blond had really won a lot of them over. The civilians were another story, but it didn't matter as long as the people in charge knew better. Specifically Hokage-sama. Everyone and their brother knew that if the council tried anything, Tsunade would blow a gasket, and the aftermath wouldn't be pretty.

There was a knock at the door of his apartment. Who could that be at this time? Dark had long since come, and it was starting to get late. The chuunin's breath hitched in his throat when he saw who it was.

Naruto grinned at the stunned look on his teacher's face. It was always worth it to come and see Iruka-sensei. He was one of the few that Naruto could really open up to and talk about everything that happened in life.

"Heya, Iruka-sensei." The other man smiled warmly and stepped aside to allow the former missing-nin to come in.

"Naruto. What a surprise! I thought you would be tired after everything that's happened to you recently."

Naruto grinned. "Nah. I've been through worse. So, Iruka-sensei, how's life?" It was all the pair needed to get each other talking like old times. Both lost track of time and it was well past midnight when Naruto left to return to the Hokage's tower where he was staying with Tsunade and Shizune until he could find another apartment or something.

* * *

And that is all for Chapter Six. I know this took way longer than usual, but, as I believe I've already stated, I have a rotation going between my other fic, The Ultimate Ace and this one. I neglected Ace and thus this story. While we're on this subject, I have a few new ideas for some stories. Let me know (in the form of a review or PM) which one you guys want me to get started on. They are as follows:

A Crossover between RuroKen and Star Wars featuring Kenshin and Shinomori Aoushi in between Episodes II and III.

A short story for Bleach that involves a story line close to sixty or seventy years after the current plot. Will expand the story if asked.

Another short for DBZ where Cell returns and Gohan must once again save the world. Post-Buu and Gohan's still in school.

A DBZ/Naruto crossover involving Cell-arc Gohan.

A different DBZ/Naruto cross with Vegito.

Once again, let me know. You can even say to keep with two fics for now. Slim chance I'll listen though. .

**Glossary. Short one this time:**

**Juin Jutsu (Curse Seal Skill/Technique) : **The method by which Orochimaru bestows his victims with a Curse Seal. The same name is also used for the Hyuuga's Branch seal. The seals themselves are different, but the name for the technique that applies them is the same.


	8. Preparations

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and whatever OCs pop up.

Last time: Naruto manages to somehow beat Tsunade by simply having the will to get up. Later on, our favorite fox host explains why he decided to become a missing-nin and join Orochimaru. Tsuande also decides to enter Naruto into the upcoming Chuunin Exam, but having the small problem of finding a team for him. The chapter ends with Naruto talking with Iruka after not seeing him for five years.

This time: Teammates are found, and it isn't who you think, Naruto trains with someone close to him, and some other stuff happens. Like I'd say what it is here. .

**URGENT!!! PLEASE READ AUTHOR'S NOTES AT END OF CHAPTER!** You'll see why after you read it.

* * *

Two days passed without much of anything at all going on. The only major thing that happened was Naruto finally being able to pay a visit to old man Ichiraku and Ayame-chan. Kyuubi had been most adamant that Naruto eat more than ramen for the rest of his life, and after finding some other dishes that he could eat without wanting ramen, Naruto had agreed to not eat ramen twenty-four/seven, but on the condition he could indulge himself once in a while.

Now the blond was bored stupid. He couldn't find anybody who was willing to be a sparring partner and it was irking him. Kyuubi had volunteered on more than one occasion, but Naruto wanted a little variety. Finally he wound up sitting on top of the Yondaime's head on the Hokage Monument. Sure he was enjoying the view, but he was still bored.

"Ah, man!" he whined, stretching just before flopping back on the slightly warm stone, the heat slowly leaking in though his orange tee-shirt. "No on wants to spar!"

'**Maybe it's because they've all seen what you can do.'** The Kyuubi suggested. **'We could always spar you know. You've done it before.'**

'Yeah, but I've been sparring with you for the past year. I really want to test myself against someone different.' A voice behind Naruto cut off any suggestion the Kyuubi may have had.

"Desiring someone to spar, Uzumaki Naruto?"

Naruto looked up as much as he could lying on the stone and found himself looking into the dull gaze of the Godaime Kazekage. "Gaara! I had no idea you were still in town!"

"I had figured that out when you never even came to visit," the Wind Shadow replied with his usual monotone, as he moved to sit beside the fox host, who raised himself up as well. Naruto scratched the back of his head with one hand, grinning sheepishly.

"Well, I thought that you would have gone back to Suna now that your mission is complete. You know, helping Konoha and everything."

Gaara shook his head. "That was only half of our mission. Initially, my siblings and I were on a training journey. That got cut short, and now here we are."

"Oh." The two friends lapsed into a comfortable silence. Naruto took this time to look hard as his friend.

The first thing that hit him was the reduction in the bags under Gaara's eyes. The marks were still there, a testament to his time as the Jinchuuriki for the Shukaku, but they had lightened considerably and now hugged up against his eyes a tad more closely than they had before. Gaara also wore the white sash that he'd carried his gourd on when the pair had first met, all those years ago at Naruto's first chuunin exam. Under that was the standard Sunagakure flack vest over the usual red clothing the Kazekage always wore.

"What's it like?" Gaara's voice caught Naruto off guard after almost ten minutes of silence.

"What?" Gaara fixed Naruto with a clearly annoyed gaze.

"Being at peace with your inner demon. What's it like?"

"Oh, that. It's okay. At least I don't have to worry about the furball trying to take over and lock me up inside his belly, if you get my meaning." The blond shrugged. "Other than that, it's not real different from what it was like before."

'**Speak for yourself kit,'** the fox grumbled. **'You weren't locked in a cage like I was.'** The fox was promptly ignored, much to his chargrin.

"I would have loved to had Shukaku locked up or at least befriended him like you did with Kyuubi," Gaara admitted, "It would have made my life so much easier."

"But you would have still been hated." Naruto pointed out. "Ah! Listen to the two of us! Reminiscing and griping like a pair of old men! Anyway, see you later, Gaara. I've got to find a sparring partner." The blond stood and prepared to leave. Gaara's voice stopped him.

"Why not fight me?" The fox host turned and looked back at the former raccoon host, who was still staring out over Konoha.

"You sure? I'm not gonna hold back you know." Now Gaara did look at him, and to the blonde's great surprise, there was a faint smirk on the stoic Kage's face.

"Just think of it as the conclusion to our fight back during the first invasion." The blond whistled softly, running a hand through his hair.

"Wow. Two Kages in just under three weeks! How do I get myself into these things?" He asked rhetorically before his face morphed into a fox-grin. "Okay, Gaara. You're on."

* * *

"Gaara! Dammit, little brother, where the hell are you!" Kankuro was pissed. Gaara had pulled his disappearing act and now neither he nor Temari could find their Kazekage. Just where the guy had gone was anyone's guess.

"Kankuro!" At the sound of his name, the puppet master turned and saw that Temari was running towards him with that lazy guy he thought Temari had a crush on in tow. She stopped in front of her brother, panting. "Did you find him?"

Kankuro scowled. "No. I can't find him and I can't sense his chakra either." Shikamaru smirked.

"Some bodyguards you two are," he remarked lazily, "letting your village's leader run around all unprotected." The lazy chuunin found himself staring straight into the face of two very angry Suna-nins.

"What was that, Shikamaru?" Temari asked, waving her fan in a threatening manner. Shikamaru was less concerned about her, though, and more concerned about her brother, whose fingers were twitching in the way they usually did before he used one of those troublesome puppets. True, they were sealed in the scrolls on his back, but his master rank probably meant he'd found a way to release them without being obvious about it.

A sharp spike in two great chakra sources cut all conversation off. Temari and Kankuro looked at each other with alarmed faces before saying together,

"Gaara!!" They tore off toward the source of the chakras, Temari grabbing Shikamaru on the way past and dragging him along, knowing they would need his strategic mind if this was about to go south.

* * *

Naruto was having the time of his life, matching his skill with Gaara's. It was clear that the two were close to even, but there was one way Naruto was superior, and that was because he had a demon to call on, even though he'd specifically told Kyuubi to keep his tailed butt out of it. If he chose to rescind that and let out the fox, Gaara was luchmeat.

His thinking was cut short as a huge hand of sand sped at him. The blond jumped, sailing up and over the thing before launching a shuriken volley. He wasn't surprised when Gaara's sand shield moved to intervene, but at the same time, the hand of sand crumbled into nothingness.

'Odd. Why didn't it stay intact?'

'**Maybe he can't keep it up without that vile raccoon's help. We know that the Ichibi was in charge of the shield.'**

'That might explain it. Still, we have to get past the shield.' The blond genin touched down and hopped back a few feet, to keep his distance from Gaara. He needed to be able to react to whatever the Kazekage threw at him.

Gaara retracted the leftover sand from his failed attack on Naruto. The man had gotten good, attacking in ways that were both strategic and unpredictable. The Kazekage was sure that the attack to make him put up his sand shield was just a fluke, though. Only certain Suna-nins knew about that particular weakness. That Naruto had seen it really didn't concern the Kazekage that much, somehow the stoic shinobi knew that Naruto wouldn't tell and because the Wind Shadow was working on being able to attack and use the shield simultaneously. He wasn't nearly as effective with it as Shukaku had been, but soon Gaara would have his ultimate defense back.

'Now it is time for me to follow Uzumaki Naruto's example and become unpredictable.' Gaara thought to himself as he slipped into a taijutsu stance. He saw Naruto's face twist into a surprised expression and allowed himself a faint smirk. Now the blond would have to work!

The other fighter in this match was shocked, almost beyond words. Seeing Gaara in a taijutsu stance and looking _comfortable_ with it was a real eye-opener. Before now, the Fifth Kazekage had been standing like he'd always done, arms crossed and a blank expression. Now he had a blank expression and a stance and looked ready to go hand to hand with Naruto.

'Fine. Gaara wants to get physical? Then let's get physical.' Naruto slid into a stance of his own, one that allowed him to attack with a reasonable degree of force and still stay light on his feet. Now what had been a justu and weapon battle turned into a stare down.

That was how the other two members of the Sand Siblings and one griping Shikamaru had found the two friends, in taijutsu stances and waiting for some hidden signal to go at it.

"What?" Temari asked.

"The hell's going on here?" Kankuro added. Shikamaru took one look at the situation and snorted.

"Isn't it obvious? This is where Gaara disappeared to. He's been sparring with Naruto." The two warriors chose that moment to sprint at each other and go hand to hand. Naruto led off with a straight and basic roundhouse kick aimed at Gaara's temple. Shikamaru could see that either Naruto was underestimating the Kazekage, or he was just testing the water, and judging by the way the blond had been fighting as of late, Shika was willing to bet on the latter.

Gaara countered with an equally simple block, raising his hand to his ear as if cover it and the kick landed on the more absorbent muscle instead of the Kazekage's skull. Now that same hand snapped out and grabbed the foot that the blond hadn't retracted fast enough before Gaara's own leg flashed out and swept Naruto's remaining leg out from under him, making the blond crash hard into the ground. Now the redhead raised a hand and his preferred method of attack, his cursed sand, packed itself into a claw form.

Naruto realized he was in a bad spot when he saw Gaara's arm, which still resembled Shukaku's for some reason or other, begin its descent towards him. There wasn't any way he'd be able to pull off Kawarimi and a Kage Bunshin wouldn't cut it either. He almost growled in frustration as another realization hit him. Rasengan wouldn't work either. Not unless he wanted to get sandblasted. His only hope was to reduce the impact enough to make it less painful, and that would involve making the thing brittle.

'Well, time to see if I can pull this off,' he thought grimly as his hands began to mold into rapid-fire seals.

Shikamaru couldn't believe his eyes when Naruto's hands made seals even faster than Kakashi could. Clearly the blond's training was paying off. It still didn't explain what he was planning, though. That all came together when the blonde's blurring hands stopped on tiger.

"**Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu**!"

The lazy Nara smiled as the fireball shot out Naruto's mouth and enveloped Gaara's arm, just as it hit the retaliating genin. Fire and burning embers went everywhere as the sand appendage, hardened into glass instantly by the fire technique, shattered upon making contact with Naruto's body. There were exclamations and curses from Temari and Kankuro, as burning sand and embers swept over them, but Gaara was clearly the most surprised. That cost him as he reflexively weakened his grip on the blonde's leg, allowing Naruto to wrench his leg free, and flip back to his feet, managing to crack the Kage in the jaw as he did.

Gaara felt something surge through him. It was an emotion that he'd rarely felt before, especially in a battle.

'What is this…feeling?' he wondered, as he watched Uzumaki Naruto's every move like a hawk. The leader of Suna had been most surprised when the blond had pulled off the little trick with the fireball. It had been…exhilarating. It made him feel...alive! Now he realized what the emotion was! Excitement. He was excited to be fighting Uzumaki Naruto! 'He is a truly worthy opponent. Even more so now that we are friends.' He allowed himself another smirk. Wow. He was showing a lot of emotion today. But then again, that was Naruto's effect on people.

Naruto was in a little pain. That jutsu had been point-blank and the claw had still been red-hot when it'd smashed on his chest. Now the blond had burn holes in his favorite orange shirt and more than one red and angry looking patch on his exposed skin.

'Great. Burns. A lot of 'em too if this pain is anything to go by.' The marks on his skin didn't hurt. Yet. But, Naruto knew from experience that bad burns wouldn't hurt at first and then they would…

Pain seared through him without warning, almost driving him to his knees. He couldn't fight like this, not with his concentration being ruined by these damn injuries!

'**Hang on, Kit. Just give me a second.'** Kyuubi's presence receded a little from Naruto's mind as the fox moved more chakra through the blonde's inner coils, focusing on the worst of the burns first before moving on to the next one.

'Hurry it up furball!' Any further 'requests' to move quicker were cut off when Gaara's other hand turned into a claw and extended straight at him. The pain from all the burns, minor ones that was true, but a lot of them, which added up to a big OUCH!, almost cost him, but Naruto managed to keep his frame of mind and dug urgently through the far right pouch on his belt, his face lighting up with a happy smile when he found what he was looking for.

He held up his hand and, interspaced between his fingers, were two round, black, balls. The claw heading toward him sped up, if that was possible, Gaara clearly realizing that Naruto was planning to buy himself a little breathing room. The blond genin's hand dropped and the bombs exploded, covering the area in thick smoke. Gaara's arm entered the cloud and passed through, no sign of a blond shinobi held onto the end by the force of impact.

Gaara looked around for his friend, no sign of what was going on inside him on his face. The Godaime Kazekage was well known for his 'poker face'. Now the former Jinchuuriki was turning in slow circles, scanning the area for any sign of broken branches, chakra residue, or shifting leaves, any one of which would at least give him a hint as to where Naruto had vanished to.

'He actually uses stealth now,' Shika observed with a start, after looking, and failing, to find Naruto. 'Normally he'd be up in Gaara's face all the time. Just what the hell did he get into while he was gone?' Gaara, it seemed, couldn't find the blond either. He was turning through what must have been his third circle, still looking for the other Jinchuuriki. When the Kazekage was facing a tree, a volley of shuriken and kunai lanced out of it in a whirl of leaves and headed straight for the redhead, followed closely by a dark blur that dropped straight down, bounced off the ground and headed for Gaara.

'That bounce was a mistake. It slowed him down enough for Gaara to track.' Temari's insight, like Shika's, proved to be dead on. The now-familiar claw of sand formed around Gaara's arm and sped straight for Naruto, knocking the incoming weapons aside in the same movement.

Shikamaru saw Naruto's eyes widen in surprise, right before he was picked up and carried off as if he was strapped to a freight train. Things began to happen very fast right then.

Naruto hit the tree he'd dropped out of and broke it in half, the top section falling with a creak toward the ground. Right as the top hit, Naruto disappeared in a burst of shinobi smoke. He'd been a Kage Bunshin all along. Everyone was caught off guard and in that moment, the real Naruto made his move.

The earth behind Gaara exploded and _something_ shot out, racing for the Fifth's exposed back. The Kazekage recognized immediately that he'd been had and tried to get his shield up. Too little too late.

Even as his claw lost shape and his shield began forming, his hair was grabbed by a rough hand. A split second later and the hand gave a hard yank, tilting Gaara's head back and exposing his throat. While that happened, Naruto pulled and managed to get the Kazekage off balance, rendering him helpless. The soft, cold, caress of a kunai on his throat sealed the outcome.

Gaara was defeated. There had been no climactic explosion or an end-all jutsu pulled out of the ass. It was how shinobi battles were supposed to end, not a bang, not a whimper, just a flawless set up and follow through.

Naruto released his friend and stepped back as the Kazekage's sand flowed like water into his gourd and the cap swirled into existence, sealing the mouth of the thing. With that done, the two friends faced each other.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Gaara was the first one to speak. "It seems you have improved greatly over the five years no one has seen you." Naruto scratched the back of his head, laughing off the compliment.

"Aw, it was nothing. I can't take all the credit for that strategy." He looked pointedly at Gaara as he spoke. "I had some help."

"I can see," Gaara remarked dryly, noticing that all of Naruto's burns from shattering his sand arm were gone. "You used smoke bombs to hide your actions as you made a Kage Bunshin to keep me busy to allow time for you healing abilities to do their work." The Kage tilted his head in way that made him look almost puzzled. "It is clear that your…alliance is something to fear."

"Yeah well, I'm not the only one to watch out for." Naruto replied. "Seeing you use taijutsu," here he shook his head, "I'd thought I'd died and moved on."

"Gaara's been working hard." The duo turned and saw Temari, Kankuro, and Shikamaru walking towards them. Naruto felt a little surprised at seeing all three of them there. He'd been so wrapped up in the sparring match that he hadn't even seen them. Temari, who was the one who'd spoken, continued, "He's learned taijutsu and picked up a couple of new ninjutsu." She gave her little brother a wink. "Can't have a weak Kage."

"I was never weak." Gaara stated tonelessly, though to the three who knew him best, Naruto, Temari, and Kankuro, it was clear that the man was a little defensive. Naruto couldn't resist getting his own jab in,

"So if you were never weak, how come you lost to the dead-last?" He asked in an innocent voice that fooled no one. Gaara chose not to grace him with a response, instead making a one-handed seal and vanishing in a swirl of sand. "Spoilsport!" Naruto shouted to the air where his friend had been standing. The other Sand Siblings just laughed.

"He's happy to see you y'know," Kankuro remarked. "We haven't seen him this happy in years, not since he got word to keep an eye out for you."

"We think that's why he's been training so hard, trying to make sure that when you returned, he'd be able to fight on par with you," Temari added. That was when she noticed that Naruto was looking back and forth between her and Shikamaru with an expression that clearly said he was trying to figure something out. "What?"

Naruto cocked his head with folded arms and a squint-eyed expression, looking at the two. "Are you guys out on a date again?"

"NO!" Temari yelled, indignant, as Shikamaru's eye twitched. Really, this guy was twenty years old! Shouldn't he be more mature than this?

"Troublesome," he muttered before just walking away. That seemed to be the signal for everyone to leave and the four went their separate ways for the time being.

* * *

The remaining time before the Chuunin Exam flew past, mostly because Naruto was constantly working, training, studying, and trying to pick up a few jutsu along the way. He had pestered Ero-sennin into helping him learn a few of the old man's tricks and the old pervert had even stuck around this time to make sure he got them right, even sparring with Naruto and working on the blonde's still-lacking chakra control. Not that control mattered much with the massive reservoirs that Naruto could tap, but still, it gave the man something to work on.

As it was, three days before the start of the exam, and with foreigners already streaming into Konoha, Naruto found himself before Tsunade again.

"So, Baa-chan, am I good to go?" Tsunade smiled, and the blond genin knew that she'd found a way to get him into the exams.

"Well, it just so happens that I have a team who've had a problem the past couple of years with their third member always getting cold feet."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. This year was no different. He backed out and I figured that you could fill in as the team's third member." Naruto blinked, wondering who could have a team like that. Something told him he should know, but he kept drawing a blank.

The doors to the office creaked open and the sound of footsteps made Naruto turn.

"Hokage-sama, you wanted to see me?" Naruto was stunned by just who it was. He took one look at the bandana-style hirai-ate, the sunglasses and black clothes before he whirled on Tsunade pointing at Ebisu.

"No way! You're putting me with Closet-pervert!?"

"Closet-pervert?" Ebisu asked huffily, clearly offended at this blond man's outburst. "I assure you that I am no pervert." Naruto turned around, his eyes glinting.

"Oh yeah? Then explain this!" He made the standard seal for basic jutsu. "Henge!" When the smoke cleared, a pig-tailed blonde woman, her naked body barely hidden by wisps of smoke stood in a sexy pose.

"Orioke no Jutsu." She said in a throaty voice.

Ebisu stood, frozen for a moment, his glasses slipping down his nose. Then he was blown off his feet as he got an impossibly big nosebleed. He flew straight out the door with a strangled yell, making one hell of a racket as he landed. Now Naruto rounded on Tsunade, transforming back as he did. "SEE? Closet-pervert!"

"Naruto, just what the hell did you do?" she asked, pinching the bridge of her nose, cheeks tinged by Naruto's immodesty. Naruto turned with a 'humph'.

"I'm not being on the same team as the closet-perverts, and that's final!" he said loudly. Tsunade sighed, but before she could say anything to convince him otherwise, voices sounded from the hall.

"Wow, Ebisu-sensei, what happened to you?" asked a male voice, by the sound of it, someone in their mid-teens.

"Did you trip and fall or something?" added a female voice, also sounding around the same age as the first voice. Ebisu's reply was stuttering and intelligible.

"Whaddaya mean 'disreputable blond men'? Ah, whatever. C'mon, Moegi-chan, let's see what the old lady wants." The first voice apparently wasn't aware of how good Tsunade's hearing was and the Fifth developed a bulging vein in her forehead, along with a twitch in her eyebrow, at the remark.

A second later and Moegi and Konohamaru strode into the room. Naruto had to do a double take when he saw the former snot-nosed brat he remembered. Now Konohamaru was tall, close to five-ten, five-eleven, and was still in the middle of a growth spurt. He wore a black vest over a tan shirt that had the Leaf insignia over a symbol for fire, along with dark green shorts. A Konoha hirai-ate topped off his outfit, tied proudly on his forehead. The blond also couldn't help but notice a little scruffiness on his chin.

Moegi had changed too. She wore a dim red standard ninja suit, long sleeved, complete with armguards and fishnet underclothes. The girl had also…_filled out_ and didn't have her hair in the twin stalks of years past. Now her hair hung in a braid down to the middle of her back and was tied off in a bow with a dark blue ribbon. She didn't have a hirai-ate, instead choosing to mount the plate on her clothes, along the edge of the deep V in her top, which showed some cleavage, but the eye wasn't distracted, because of the fishnet clothing. If Naruto had been a fashionable person, he would have said she pulled the look off nicely.

The pair stopped dead upon spotting the blond that they had idolized for so long, looking him over as he'd done to them. Konohamaru was the first to break the silence.

"Naruto-aniki? You're our third teammate?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," he replied. The fox Jinchuuriki turned to the Hokage, who seemed to have forgotten her temper in exchange for amusement at the three's reunion. "This is no joke. Right?" he asked the Fifth.

"Nope. Konohamaru, Moegi, Naruto. You three will participate as a team in the Chuunin Exams that will happen in three days."

"But, Hokage-sama, what about Udon?" Moegi asked. Tsunade sighed.

"Ebisu has already been to see me, saying that Udon has once again gotten cold feet. I feel that, just because he cannot handle exam pressures, and since Naruto here needed a team, that I shouldn't have pulled you two as well when we had a person ready to fill the spot." The Fifth replied.

"What about the treaty with the other villages?" Naruto asked. "Won't they be pissed off you're pulling this stunt?"

"I have checked and rechecked the regulations on this and there is nothing to suggest that this is in violation of the treaty between the participating villages." She smiled at the three. "I suggest that the three of you spend the next three days getting to know each other. Dismissed."

The three of them left, walking out of the office and heading for the center of Konoha.

"How cool is this!" Konohamaru exclaimed happily, folding his hands behind his head as they walked. "Finally, I get a chance to show up Naruto-aniki and become Hokage!" It was clear that the younger shinobi hadn't given up on his dream. "How about you Naruto?" He grinned. "Are you going to become Hokage after me?"

"I'm not going to be obsessed about being Hokage anymore." The other two stopped dead.

"What?" Konohamaru said, disbelief coloring his tone. Naruto-aniki, who'd always said that he'd become the greatest Hokage ever, now not obsessing over it? It was preposterous, scandalous, and ridiculous! What had happened to do this to him?

"Why Naruto-aniki?" Moegi asked, just as confused as her partner. Naruto stopped walking, and stared down the street.

"I think I only wanted to be Hokage for the recognition that it gave me. I have that acknowledgement now, and I also realized while I was away from my home and friends that Hokage is just a title. It doesn't mean anything when you set it next to what really counts."

"What does matter?" the Sandaime's grandson asked, not getting what his idol was saying.

"Your friends." Naruto replied simply, drawing soft a soft 'oh' from his two companions. "If Baa-chan decides to make me Hokage, then I'll take it. I'll even put my name in to be considered, but it will only be a means to an end, a way to continue protecting what really matters to me."

"Wow. I never thought about it like that." Konohamaru admitted. "When did you come up with that?"

"While I was alone, with no friends, surviving by if I could make it to the next village or not." The fox host started to reply. Then he just seemed to give up, not knowing how to explain his change of heart. "Ah, dammit. I dunno. I just had too much time to think." A familiar scent caught his nose and Naruto's stomach chose that moment to growl.

Moegi and Konohamaru burst out laughing, Naruto joining in, and the seriousness of the situation was lost.

"I guess Naruto wants ramen!" The kunoichi in the group said happily.

"Who wouldn't?" Konohamaru added. "Ichiraku's is the best!" He sprinted off in the direction of the stand. "Let's go!" The 'honorable grandson' sped up, and Moegi chased after him. Naruto shook his head with a grin, wondering when the two had grown up. It made him feel old. He strolled off after his two temporary teammates.

'Gone for five years and even the people I know have changed! The way those two act, you'd think they were dating or something!'

'**Jeeze, you're dense. You think everyone would wait around for you to come back before going on with their lives?'** Kyuubi said, shaking his massive head at his cage's ignorance. Really, the way some humans thought that the world revolved around them. Was it any wonder why the fox had tried to wipe them all out?

* * *

"Heya, old man!" Konohamaru said brightly to the proprietor of the Ichiraku Ramen Stand. The middle-aged restauraunt owner turned around with a grin that only widened when he saw his three best customers standing in the flapped opening of his shop.

"Well, Konohamaru and Moegi. Out on a date again? You should consider actually spending some of you money for once, kid." Konohamaru scratched his head in embarassment. A sudden shout stopped him from answering.

"WHOA! Hold on just one damn second! Konohamaru, you and Moegi are _DATING!?_" Naruto looked from one genin to the other, not believing what he'd just heard. Konohamaru blushed a little as Moegi threw her arms around his neck with a giggle.

"Yep!" She replied brightly. "Konohamaru-chan and I have been going out for around eight months now!"

"Damn!" Naruto said, putting his hands on his hips and looking around like he'd never seen Konoha in his life. "Konohagakure. Miss a little and you miss a lot!"

"You can get used to it later Naruto," Ichiraku said, rubbing his hands together eagerly. "Now you three, what's it gonna be?" A short time later, and there were three steaming bowls of ramen in front of each shinobi, who eagerly snapped their chopsticks and began eating. Naruto winced as Kyuubi smacked him with a tail, admonishing him about eating 'that pig swill' which made the Jinchuuriki snap back a comment and the two began a mental verbal battle.

Neither demon nor host sensed the two kunoichi watching them from a nearby rooftop,

"Look, there he is! Wow! Naruto-kun's grown alot since we last saw him."

"Keh. He's just a snot-nosed brat and he always will be. The only reason he beat me was because that damn fox decided to intervene."

"So, do you think you'll be able to beat him this time?" The first woman asked.

"Without a doubt," her sister responded confidently. "We've been training for this moment and now that bastard's gonna regret leaving the village." The woman's mouth curled into a cold sneer. "I'll make sure of it."

* * *

And end chapter seven! This was mostly filler, but the First Exam starts next chapter! Don't worry, it'll be brief, and then I'll concentrate on the part of the exams we all care about, the Second and Third Exams. So, who were those two kunoichi who seem to know Naruto? Well, they are... NOT GOING TO BE REVEALED HERE! You'll just have to wait until next chapter! Sorry that this took so long to get out. I haven't felt like writing and I've been busy with ROTC. Stupid uniforms... ANYWAY, I've got this one up, and now I start work on Gohan's Dilemma, a DBZ/Naruto cross that is posted in this section and features post-Cell Gohan and takes place pre-timeskip, seeing as I've only seen episodes 1-35 of Shippuden. Not enough to base a story off of.

It also explains why Sai has made only one appearance and Yamato not at all. I just don't have a decent handle on their personalities and interactions with Naruto yet. Once I establish that, though, they will appear more frequently. And now for something you all have been wondering about...Pairings! Yes, I have a rough idea of who I want to pair Naruto up with and it ain't Hinata. Right now I lean for a NaruSaku pairing, but don't worry if this makes you mad. It's not set in stone yet and if it does happen, the pairing will be used as comedy relief and filler because I'm not into the whole mushy lovey-dovey thing. Makes me break out in hives.

**Glossary**

**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Style: Grand Fireball Technique/Skill): **Sasuke's trademark justu, used here by Naruto to prevent himself from being smashed flat by Gaara. He learned it at Kyuubi's insistance. I'll elaborate in later chapters.

**Orioke no Jutsu (Sexy Jutsu, AKA Ninja Centerfold): **The first jutsu seen in Naruto ever! No joke! Naruto has used this one on a number of people, including and not limited to, Iruka, the Sandaime, Jiraiya, and, of course, Ebisu. The technique involves transforming into a naked woman and watching as the perverted victim is blown away by a huge nosebleed. Personally, I wanna see Naruto try this one on Itachi.


	9. Let the Exams begin!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the two OCs in this chapter and the plotline.

Last time: Naruto finds out who his two teammates will be for the Chuunin Exam after fighting Gaara and coming out on top, thanks to Kyuubi's strategy. While eating at Ichiraku's Naruto is watched by two kunoichi who seem to have some kind of grudge against him.

This time: The Exams begin! Oh! And Yamato makes an appearance, though a real minor one.

* * *

The day of the Chuunin exams dawned cold and windy, with heavy slate gray clouds obscuring the sun from view. Chill winds whipped down streets, enhanced by the tightly packed buildings on either side of the pedestrian byways. Though it was close to noon, there were only a few people out braving the elements today, most of them sporting foreign hirai-ates, or were residents of Konoha out doing shopping that absolutely couldn't wait until better weather. Two of those people were Konohamaru and Moegi, on their way to their first true chuunin exam! The duo was ecstatic because they finally got to take a shot at moving up higher! Well, maybe ecstatic wasn't the right word. More like nervous. Moegi kept tripping over her own feet and Konohamaru seemed to have taken on a delicate shade of green.

A tense silence ruled the air around the pair as they finally reached the building where the exams were to begin. A tall man wearing a black cloak was leaning against the door frame, a bulge in his protective clothes made a little gap, allowing an onlooker to glimpse crossed arms and an orange tee-shirt. He stood upright, his arms uncrossing as the two Leaf genin approached.

"Naruto-aniki?" Konohamaru asked, feeling as though he was about to hurl, his nervousness was so bad. The billowing cloak parted once again as hands reached out and up, throwing back the hood, revealing Naruto's smiling face.

"Hey! About time you two got here! Ready to go?" The blond was clearly psyched to begin the exams and _finally_ catch up to his comrades after almost eight years of trailing behind them. The younger genin gulped and entered into the warmth of the exam building. Together, the trio ascended the stairs, heading for the third floor and the exam room therein.

All too soon for Konohamaru's liking, the three shinobi reached the landing of the third floor. His mouth felt dry as they strode down the long third floor corridor that led to the double doors shielding the room from view. Ebisu was waiting for them at the doors, just as Kakashi had done for Team Seven, so many years ago.

"Well, Konohamaru-kun, Moegi-chan, it's time. Are you sure that you two want to go through with this? You can still back out if you feel you aren't ready." Uncertainty riled beneath Konohamaru's tortured exterior as he questioned whether or not he was really prepared to move past those doors.

Finally, after a tense minute, he grinned and declared, "I'm more than ready! Let's do this!"

"If Konohamaru's ready, then so am I!" Moegi proclaimed, ready to help her boyfriend move on, and pass this exam herself!

Ebisu's sunglasses turned onto the silent blond in the group. The jounin couldn't help but be a little intimidated by the look on Naruto's face. Grim determination had etched itself into every facet of the blonde's visage. His blue eyes seemed to harden into chips of blue granite and his mouth was set in a grim line. The tutor knew there was no point in asking if the Jinchuuriki was ready, it was apparent just from looking at him.

He pushed his glasses up further onto his nose. "Well then, good luck and I will see you after the end of the Second Exam." With that, he stepped aside, and Naruto approached the door and threw it open wide, allowing the light beyond to spill into the hall. Ebisu watched with pride as his two charges and their idol stepped over the threshold and the doors slammed shut with a booming finality.

The two newcomers to the exams gulped as over a hundred pairs of eyes bore down on them, none of them friendly. Naruto met each icy gaze with his equally grim one, and none could hold it. The blond was quickly slipping into his missing-nin persona, the one that radiated confidence to the point of arrogance and had the power to back it up. He knew that the chance of them being hounded for scrolls in the next half of the exams would decrease substantially if the foreigners realized that this team had one powerhouse on it.

"Relax," he said to the two genin trembling behind him. "They're just as nervous as you are." He didn't bother to keep his voice down. "There's nothing they can do to hurt you."

An arrogant female voice changed all of that. "Oh really, Naruto-chan?" Two figures strode out from behind a knot of Iwa nin. "We can hurt them."

An electric jolt surged through Naruto as he caught sight of the two kunoichi striding towards him with all the grace of a pair of cats. The jolt awoke Kyuubi who, up until now, had been dozing peacefully in the back of the blond genin's mind. The nine-tailed fox felt his host's discomfort and decided to see what the big deal was. The demon was yawing as he looked out and saw the kunoichi. His massive jaw slammed shut in surprise with the sound of a car door being slammed.

**'Them!?'**

'Yeah.'

**'What the hell are they doing here?'**

'Search me. How much you wanna bet that they're here for me?'

The two women were wearing those Chinese dresses that Tenten and Sakura were so fond of wearing, complete with an intricate flower and gold thread embroidery, although whereas the two Konoha kunoichi actually had a sense of decency, these two unknowns seemed to have provocation in mind. The flaps on the dresses were short to the point of barely covering their underwear, hanging to just above mid-thigh, and they wore no shorts underneath to protect their modesty. They also had white leggings on that came up to about halfway up their thighs and were tied off with some colored ribbon, one blue the other red, matching the color of the dresses themselves.

"Ayame and Sasame." Naruto's voice was cold and gave the two Konoha genin behind him the chills. It wasn't the same warm voice he'd been using the day before when the trio had been training together, trying to build as much teamwork as they possibly could.

The one in blue on the left spoke again. "Oh, look, Sasame, he remembers us!" Her chest, stretching the material of the dress covering it to its limits, shook as she laughed. Though her laugh was light and airy, the tone conveyed nothing but derision. The woman, Ayame, tossed her hair over her shoulder. That was what struck Konohamaru the most. The kunoichi's hair was pale lavender, almost the color of a Hyuuga's eyes, and it also had a strong resemblance to a bird's feathers. It was held in check by a blue elastic band.

'She's…beautiful!' Konohamaru thought as he checked out her athletic form, her outfit leaving nothing to the imagination. Her sister clapped joyously at the other's remarks.

"Yay! I thought Naruto-kun would've forgotten us after all this time!" Her voice was warm and bubbly, devoid of any type malice. Her hair was a dark red or light brown and fell in twin braids down to her shoulder blades, ending in yellow bows. The odd thing about her outfit was the sleeves. Unlike her sister's, which had no sleeves at all and exposed her arms to the air, Sasame's sleeves fell until they completely covered her hands, shielding them from view. There was some obvious slack too, because she had to hold her arms a little higher than necessary to use her hands. Konohamaru found both fairly attractive and wondered why Naruto was so tense.

"So what are the Twins doing here in Konoha?" The Jinchuuriki snapped, his voice rough and demanding. "I was under the impression that you two were still…"

"SHHHHHH!" The one in red hissed, her vivid green eyes going wide, arms flapping, making the overlong sleeves snap. "Do you want ANBU to kill us?"

"Honestly? Yes." Naruto replied gruffly. Ayame's crimson eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You might wanna watch what you say, Naruto-chan. Otherwise," her hard red gaze fell on Konohamaru, who was still gawking at them as if he'd never seen a woman in his life. Her lips curled into a sneer. "Your friends might get hurt!" Before anyone could react, her hand shot for the genin's throat, blue colored nails glinting in the lights.

"Konohamaru-chan!" Moegi's cry did nothing for the teen himself, who was frozen with fear as the kunoichi's fingernails sped for his windpipe.

Naruto's hand was suddenly around Ayame's wrist, stopping it cold and locking it in a vise-like grip.

Everyone who'd been watching started at the speed at which the shinobi and kunoichi had moved. Ayame's nails were inches from the Konoha-nin's throat when they'd been stopped. No one had even _seen_ Naruto's reaction. Mentally, many shinobi, both Konoha and foreign, scratched the crazy psycho bitch and the blond off their list of potential targets.

Sasame clapped excitedly, sleeves flopping around her elbows. "Amazing! Sis, Sis, did you see how fast Naruto-kun moved?" Her voice was heavy with her emotion, and it didn't seem like she even cared that her sister had almost killed Konohamaru.

Ayame looked at her wrist, held fast in an unbreakable grip. She looked at Naruto with crafty and seductive eyes. "Well, well." She said in a tone that attested to unwilling surprise. "Someone's been training. You've improved a lot if you could see that coming and react in time to stop me."

Naruto shoved her wrist back as if just touching it disgusted him before his hand retreated into his cloak. Somehow, Konohamaru and Moegi were sure that one of his fingers was through the ring of a kunai. "Spare me." Both of the kunoichi's eyes widened when Naruto's pupils slitted and the color bled from sky blue to a sinister crimson. "Tell me why you're here. Now."

Sasame recovered first as she giggled and threw her arms over Ayame's shoulders. "Aww, we can't do that, Naruto-kun! It would spoil the surprise!" The blue kunoichi sighed, exasperated with her sister's behavior and shook her off.

"Sasame, really, can't you be serious for two seconds?" Sasame bounced a little and held a finger to the corner of her mouth as she stared up at the ceiling, wonder in her gaze.

"Uhhh. Why would I do that? It'd take all the fun out of life!" She giggled and flounced off to find a seat. Ayame shook her head, annoyed, and trailed off after her sister, throwing a sultry 'Bye Naruto-chan' over her shoulder.

The blond watched them go, letting off a feral growl as his eyes returned to their normal color. "Bitches." He hissed venomously. "Why the _hell_ are they here!?"

"Uh…Naruto-aniki?" Konohamaru asked cautiously, not knowing how to deal with his idol when he was like this. "Who were they?"

"Ayame and Sasame Kusajishi. Don't worry about them; they're too strong for you. If we come across them in the Second Exam, run. Don't hesitate, don't question, just run."

"But Sasame doesn't seem that dangerous," Moegi protested to which Naruto snorted in a surprisingly derisive tone.

"Looks can be deceiving. Frankly, I can't say for certain which one's more dangerous, Ayame or Sasame." There was an explosion of smoke at the front of the room, near the chalkboard. When it cleared, Morino Ibiki, the scarred head of the ANBU Interrogation Squad, stood at the front of the room with all the proctors for the exam. Naruto listened until he was sure that Ibiki would be using the same rules as last time around. The blond had to admit, he was surprised that the first exam would be the same as it had been for him during his first exam.

'Konoha must have a lot of faith in Ibiki's ability to weed out the weak ones.'

'**No surprise. Sometimes I wonder if that man isn't a Jinchuuriki.'** Naruto shuddered as he remembered the immense pressure the proctor had put them through the first time.

'Either that or he's dating that Anko chick.' The blond outright shivered at the mere memory of the jounin and prayed to whatever Kami was out there that she wouldn't be the proctor of the second exam. He only hoped that the sadist jounin wouldn't feel too attracted to the Kusajishi sisters. Even Kyuubi shuddered at that scenario. He took a seat and watched as Ibiki began explaining the exam.

The blond took the rest of Ibiki's blabbing as a time to size up both the proctors and the chuunin hopefuls. He was trying to single out threats and the chuunins retaking the exam as a way of testing the genin's intelligence gathering and observational skills.

There were a couple surprises among the proctors. Just behind and to the left of Ibiki was Hyuuga Neji, scowling at them all with the supreme arrogance of the Hyuuga clan. The prodigy caught the blonde's gaze and nodded almost invisibly. Naruto sincerely hoped that the jounin wouldn't be watching his row. Hidden at the back of the group of proctors was another face Naruto knew all too well. The man was doing a good job not calling attention to himself, but the Jinchuuriki was still able to pick him out.

It was the Shodai Hokage experiment, known to Naruto as Yamato. The ANBU also noticed Naruto's look and gave the blond his 'creepy look' as a way of greeting. The genin broke out in a cold sweat and _really_ hoped that his former interim captain wouldn't be watching him. The Byakugan Naruto could put up with, that creepy gaze was another thing all together.

Those two were all he could recognize, so Naruto turned his attention to the chuunin hopefuls. One person stood out immediately, and he were sitting right next to the blond. Hidden under a wide straw hat and grass cloak was Shikamaru. Figures that the lazy bum would be in the exam, as his brilliant mind was able to figure out all the answers with no effort. If the lazy chuunin had actually put forth the effort to shake a little to feign nervousness, Naruto might have missed him.

"You may begin!" Ibiki's voice echoed in the packed room and all the examinees flipped over their exam papers to begin work. Naruto smirked to himself as he folded his arms and began to wait until the final question.

'Oh shit.' The blond had shot a look out of the corner of his eye and was dismayed to see Yamato sitting in the chair at the end of his row, never once glancing down as his pencil moved, docking points from other genin in his row. His wide eyes never once left Naruto.

'Dammit! Yamato. This is bad.' If Naruto didn't do something, Yamato may start docking him points and that was something that couldn't happen. It would cost him and his team the exam.

'**Relax, there won't be anything he can do! Let me have control of your arm.'** Naruto let the Kyuubi have the arm, knowing that there was nothing he could do in this situation, and that Kyuubi was old enough to be even smarter than Shika at this kind of thing.

* * *

Yamato watched with keen eyes as Naruto's hand began to write, the blonde's eyes following what he was jotting down. The ANBU had been assigned to this exam by the order of the Godaime Hokage, who thought that the Kyuubi might try something during the exam. True, Naruto claimed to have made an alliance with the beast, something that the Godaime Kazekage confirmed, but Tsunade wasn't about to trust this blindly, it was just too big of a chance. Therefore, she'd assigned the one shinobi in Konoha who had a chance at controlling the beast to watch Naruto during the exams. The Shodai clone really did like the son of the Yondaime, which was why he'd accepted the mission. He didn't want to see Naruto get hurt by the fox while he concentrated on the exam. And speaking of the exam, the ANBU sent a hidden signal to Ibiki…

The interrogation specialist saw the other ANBU's gesture and smiled grimly. "Number 25. Take your cheating ass out of the room, and make sure you take your teammates with you!" Number 25, a Waterfall-nin, stood dejectedly and walked out of the room, followed by his less than happy teammates.

That seemed to be the signal for the other proctors that it was now open season on the genin. Shortly after Yamato had scored his first kill, Neji and one of the other proctors sent out two more teams within five minutes of each other. And the pace only began to pick up. Naruto sincerely hoped that Ayame and Sasame would get eliminated and Konohamaru and Moegi didn't get caught. His Kyuubi-possessed arm quit writing and Naruto felt the fox's control withdraw from his limb. The blond looked at Yamato, who quirked an eyebrow when the genin grinned at him. The man's 'creepy' eyes widened a moment later when Naruto held up a completed paper. How? The ANBU hadn't seen him so much as _peek_ at the Nara's paper.

* * *

Shikamaru's eye twitched as he watched the showboating genin next to him. Seriously, the blond needed to grow up. Or maybe he was jealous at the speed with which the genin had finished. They still had half and hour left and he was done! But that raised the question of how in the genius' mind. He'd been watching Naruto out of the corner of his eye as he'd written down answers. The Nara had been watching the _entire_ time. He'd memorized the layout and dimensions of the paper the moment Naruto had sat down beside him so Shika could watch the blond at work. The chuunin was certain that the genin had figured out it was him before the exam had even started, but never once did Naruto's eyes leave his own test sheet.

'How'd he do it? Did he just write down some BS or did he actually know the answers?' Shika asked himself. Somehow he doubted both theories. Ah. Forget it, this was too troublesome to deal with.

* * *

The half hour passed with the dismissal of close to ten more teams. In other words, thirty people blew their chance at chuunin, and Naruto knew that, if Anko was in charge of the next exam again, the number remaining would drop by half. Ibiki did his little song and dance about being a genin forever and more teams dropped out until there were sixty people left out of close to double that number.

"Any more wanna drop out?" Ibiki asked as he surveyed the room after no one had gotten up for close to five minutes. He'd noticed Uzumaki Naruto from his vivid yellow hair and his resemblance to the Yondaime and hoped against hope that the kid wouldn't ruin it like he did last time. It looked like the kid wasn't as loud as he'd been last time, but it didn't matter. Twenty teams were still left. Damn, Anko was gonna be pissed. "No takers? Okay then. Congratulations, all of you who're still here have passed the first exam." He waited for the inevitable uproar and held up a hand to silence them before launching into his spiel about the whole information-gathering thing. Once he finished, he looked at his watch and noted that Anko was a little late.

Naruto felt a chakra source speeding towards them just before a blob busted through the window and flared up like some evil shadow.

'How original. She used the same damn entrance as last time.'

'**Face it Kit. Some people just aren't as inventive as we are at pulling pranks.' **Kyuubi replied. Naruto was sure that if the fox had eyebrows, they would be twitching at the woman's lack of originality.

"Okay! Listen up you worms!! From now on, you're in my hands! Gather up you shinobi gear and meet me at Training Ground 44 in two hours!" The loud jounin glared at the genin when they didn't move. "Well!? What the hell are you waiting for, an invite!? Those who aren't on time will be eliminated!" _That_ got them going and the genin pelted for the double doors in their haste to obey, except for one. A blur shot from the row that Yamato was seated in and flew at Ibiki and Anko. The kunoichi couldn't see who could be so fast until the blur stopped, sinking into a crouch on the wall beside them to absorb his momentum before shooting out the window Anko had broken during her entrance.

"Hey, Morino."

"What Mitarashi?"

"Was that the fox brat?"

Ibiki smiled at the brash jounin. "Yep. Looks a lot like Arashi doesn't he?"

The other sadist ninja grinned malevolently. "Oh I'm gonna have fun with this!" With that, the kunoichi poofed out of existence. It was only after she'd gone that Ibiki shuddered.

"Uzumaki, you'd better watch yourself."

* * *

Tsunade and Shizune were eating a quiet late lunch with a guest, Sakura, at the house the Slug Princess lived in a block or two down from the Hokage's Tower. The three kunoichi started when the door opened with a bang, bouncing off the wall with a 'bang', and Naruto sprinted in, up the stairs, followed by the sound of his bedroom door also bouncing off the walls and what sounded like furniture being thrown around.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked. "What's he doing here? Isn't he supposed to be at the exams?"

Tsunade grinned. "He's probably picking up his equipment. He left it here because he didn't think he'd need it for the first exam."

"But now he had to go to the Forest of Death, right?" Tsunade's grin widened.

"Yup."

"But that's on the other side of the village!" Shizune exclaimed. "He'll never make it."

"Shows what you know, Shizune-chan!" Naruto's voice interrupted. The blond was belting on one of his leg holsters as he hopped down the steps on one foot. Finally getting the clasp closed, he rushed over to the table, grabbed a doughnut and raced for the door, his three kunai pouches dangling from a belt in his other hand.

The three women laughed. "Typical Naruto." Sakura said shaking her head. "Never thinks more than three seconds into the future."

* * *

The blond sprinted for the forest, which was still some miles away.

'Dammit! I should've gotten Ero-sennin to teach me Hiraishin no Jutsu!' Somehow though, he made it on time. He was also one of the first ones there. Moegi and Konohamaru were there as well, but they'd been there once before, tailing him. The remaining shinobi, foreigners and locals alike, were probably still looking. Not many shinobi, even Konoha shinobi, knew that the training ground was here. They knew it existed, but not the exact spot. It was for good reason as no one wanted some genin looking for a thrill getting killed.

"There you are!" Moegi chastised. "What if you were late?"

"But I'm not." Naruto answered her. He blessed the immense stamina that he had to have been able to run full tilt from Baa-chan's house all the way to the forest and barely be breathing hard.

Anko's two-hour deadline passed at a crawl for everyone involved. Surprisingly, Kakashi showed up at about the half way mark. Naruto was amazed that the jounin had actually made it on time. That was until Anko clobbered him yelling at the top of her lungs about how he should have been there over two hours ago.

"You never change, do you Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked as the silver haired jounin strode over to them, rubbing the place on his head where Anko had smacked him.

"I dunno what you mean, Naruto." The jounin replied with a hidden smile. "I was helping some little old lady with her groceries and…"

"Save it." The former missing-nin interrupted with a dismissive wave. "By the way, what are you doing here?"

"Ah, now that's something for Anko to tell you." The Copy-nin replied, his eye curving. "I have a feeling she'd kill me if I told you now."

Finally, the remaining hour passed and the liability forms, waiving Konoha of all responsibility for 'accidental' deaths, were signed and the scrolls passed out. The genin clustered around Anko at the foot of the fence leading into the forest. Behind the sadist woman were fourteen jounin, Kakashi among them, standing in a formal formation.

"Okay! You have your scrolls and you all already know that you aren't allowed to answer them under any circumstances. Now for the fun part! You will have just five days to retrieve the other scroll and reach the tower at the center of this forest!" Some creature deep in the maze of poisonous bugs and deadly plants, a creature howled in obvious pain. The mournful noise was cut short an instant later as the whatever-it-was was killed by something else. A shiver passed through the collected candidates. "However, a new part has been added to the exam!"

Anko grinned maniacally as all attention focused on her. "You see these fourteen jounin behind me? Well, they're what's been added. To simulate an information retrieval mission more closely, these guys have been recruited to play the part of the bad guys! They'll be coming after your scroll in five teams of three and if they take your scroll from you, you'll have to get it back."

"Uh…" one of the remaining Iwagakure shinobi raised his hand, clearly terrified of Anko. "Ma'am, you said there would five teams of three, but there're only fourteen jounin. Who's the fifteenth?"

Anko's grin widened, if that were possible. "Me." Every genin went pale at her words. This crazy lady would be coming in after them? Oh boy, this wasn't gonna be fun. "Oh yeah, just one more thing. We'll be going all out. I hope you guys or up to snuff, or you'll die." No time was give for protests because the crazy kunoichi yelled at them to choose a gate and get ready to begin the second exam.

Naruto, Konohamaru and Moegi chose a gate that was hopefully far enough from the jounin squads to allow them to get a scroll before they could run into the more powerful shinobi.

"Uh, Naruto-aniki? What do we do with the scroll?" Konohamaru asked, holding up the Earth Scroll.

"I'll take it," Naruto replied. "The jounin will have a tougher time getting it from me than they would with you." The blond genin took the brown roll of paper and slipped it, not into one of his pouches, but into a zippered pocket on his pants. Now they would have to knock him out to get to it.

"Get ready," said the chuunin guarding their gate said to the trio. The three tensed as the man turned around and unlocked the padlock holding the gate closed. The chain to which the lock was attached fell clinking to the ground, coiling there like some kind of metallic snake. The doors flew open all around the circular training area and every shinobi standing at one flew into the Forest of Death to begin the second exam.

Moegi and Konohamaru trailed Naruto by a few steps as he bounded from tree branch to tree branch, his blond head turning every which way looking for any sign of potential targets or attackers. The two younger genin knew that Naruto had all the experience and were more than willing to let the man take the lead.

Even Naruto's tenant was doing his part, monitoring Naruto's other senses, even going as far as to pump a little youki to the organs to enhance them, giving both occupants of the shared body more information to work with.

Close to an hour later, the team finally quit moving as the light, already wan because of the closeness of the gnarled redwoods, couldn't reach them any longer. Naruto realized that this had been Anko's plan, starting the second exam straight off when the first exam had ended with the sun low in the sky.

"Be careful you guys," he said in a low voice that hardly carried past them. "It's getting dark. Now would be the time when the jounin are most active."

"How so?" Moegi asked, puzzled at why this would be the best time.

"Think about it. Most of us are inexperienced genin who've never really had experience fighting at night."

"What about you, Naruto-aniki?" Konohamaru asked. The blonde's head still didn't stop it's ceaseless scanning of the area, even with the deteriorating light.

"I can fight at night, but I'm not fantastic at it." He heaved a sigh. "Kakashi will know that. I'll bet we'll end up taking his squad on at some point."

"How can you be so sure?" the kunoichi of the team asked.

Naruto smiled grimly. "Easy. He knows me, knows how I move, what jutsu I use, the ways to push my buttons, everything."

"But he hasn't seen you in almost five years!" the Sandaime's grandson interjected.

"It doesn't matter. My fighting styled hasn't really changed that much, aside from the fact that I tend to think a little more, and whatever new jutsu I use, he can just use his Sharingan to predict and counter it." The blonde's blue eyes hardened. "But I'm more worried about Ayame and Sasame."

"Naruto-aniki, just who are they?" Konohamaru asked, wondering what his idol's ties to the exotic and deadly kunoichi were.

The Jinchuuriki sighed, running a hand through his long blond hair. "Let's get settled in first, and then I'll explain. No fire though, that'll just lead enemies straight to us." The trio dispersed, setting traps and trying to locate food and water for the long five days they would be spending in this hellhole.

* * *

Somewhere else in the depths of Training Ground 44, the very two kunoichi that Naruto was planning to discuss with his teammates bounced from branch to branch of the huge trees of the forest, casually avoiding clumsily laid traps and also the leeches in the area. Finally the two stopped on a branch that would've easily held a decent sized shinobi battle.

"Aww! My outfit's getting ruined!" Sasame whined, holding up her sleeves to show her sister the stains and general wear and tear the dress was receiving from the environment around them. "Can't we hurry up and kill Naruto-kun already? I wanna go home and take a bath!"

"Sasame, shut up." Ayame snapped, her patience with her sister wearing thin. Seriously, the girl needed to quit bitching and grow up! "We'll find Naruto-chan soon and then blow through this measly exam." She brushed her feathery bangs out of her face. 'Just you wait, Naruto-chan. I'll find you and then show you what power's all about!'

"How long will this take?" Sasame asked.

"How ever long is needed, Sasame." Ayame replied snippily. The blue kunoichi was tired, frustrated, and hunting endlessly for her fox-ridden quarry. She thought it would be easy to find the man's immense chakra, which he'd never been great at hiding, but all of the other teams in the area were making him difficult to track. Finally she had to let out the sigh that'd been building in her chest since this damned second exam started. "Alright, Sasame. We'll set up camp here for the night. Maybe we'll have better luck finding Naruto-chan tomorrow." The red kunoichi clapped happily and reach into one of her baggy sleeves, pulling out a scroll. The perky woman unrolled it and bit her thumb, trailing the bloodied digit over a set of seals and made a few hand signs.

"**Kuchiyose no Jutsu**!"

The explosion sent a violent wind ripping around their immediate area and made the flaps on the women's dresses flap wildly, though neither seemed to care. When the smoke cleared, there was a pair of tents set up on the wide branch.

'Ah, the wonders of the Fuuin Jutsu.' Ayame thought happily as she ducked under the flap of one of the tents and pulled the elastic band out of her lavender hair, letting it fall in a feathery cascade down her back. The sisters settled in and fell asleep, not bothering to set a watch, confident enough that no jounin or genin would bother trying to assail them while they slept.

* * *

Well, there you go. Chapter eight is done. Sorry that is was mostly talking, but hey, look on the bright side. You've gotten two kunoichi that even Naruto is wary of, and a twist on the Second Exam out of the deal! More on Ayame and Sasame as time goes on. We haven't seen much of their combat capablities, but don't worry. They'll get plenty of time in the spotlight during the Third Exam and possibly the prelims (if I decide to have them. .) Oh yeah, one last thing. Yes, I did rip the Twins surnames from Kusajishi Yachiru from Bleach. If anything that should give you a hint on how dangerous these two are.

**Glossary:**

**Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique/Skill): **One of the Yondaime's signature jutsu, along with the Rasengan. Through the use of a special seal, the Fourth was able to teleport anywhere in a flash, hence his nickname, Konoha's Yellow Flash. The jutsu is so dangerous that the Yondaime was able to kill hundreds of enemies instantly which resulted in the other villages slapping him with a flee-on-sight order.

**Fuuin Jutsu (Sealing Technique/Skill): **The catch-all name for anything involving a seal. Can range from basic storage seals like Naruto, Tenten and Sasame use, all the way to Orochimaru's Cursed Seal.


	10. A blast from the past

Disclaimer: Own nothing.

Last time: The Chuunin exams begin! And the two mysterious observers turn out to be a couple of kunoichi with a grudge against our favorite blond

This time: A little about Ayame and Sasame is revealed. Kakashi decides to test Naruto using an old favorite method.

Authors Note: Please don't yell at me for the method used. It's got a little spin to it and it's the only way I could think to work in a fight without a life-or-death match.

* * *

"Okay, so what do you guys wanna know about the Twins?" Naruto asked his team. They were sitting in a hollow of one of the redwoods and had ringed the entrance with various traps. Moegi and Konohamaru looked at each other, clearly not knowing where to begin.

"How about why they're called the Twins?" The red-clad kunoichi asked.

"Well, that one's easy enough," Naruto answered, glad to start with what he knew for sure, as opposed to what he was speculating on. "Ayame and Sasame are called the Twins because you'll never find one without the other. Plus they really are twins." He tapped his chin, knowing that he was missing something. "Oh yeah, also, they attack in tandem. Both of 'em are known for it but they can do pretty well as stand alone shinobi."

"So, where are they from?" the Sandaime's grandson asked now.

"From a hidden village."

Moegi shrugged. "So? We're from a hidden village! Which one?"

Naruto sighed. "I know that. I mean the village they come from is literally a hidden village. Not many people know where it's at and as far as I know, it doesn't even have a name!" The Jinchuuriki stared over the heads of the other two genin, drilling into the slimy wood behind them as he remembered. "All I really know about that place is that it's made up of all missing-nin or descendents of missing-nin."

"Have you been there?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. I got lost during my training and wound up finding the village by accident. For missing-nin, they were pretty nice. That is, until I decided to move on."

"What happened?"

"Well, as it turns out, once you find the place you either stay there or die trying to leave." The blond grinned. "I decided that I wasn't going to die but I wasn't gonna stay either."

"That still doesn't explain the Twins!" Moegi protested.

"No, I suppose it doesn't. Well, those two are after me for revenge."

"Revenge? For what?"

"For beating Ayame in a battle. See, the Twins are some pretty hot shit in that village, so it didn't sit well with either of them when I won." The former missing-nin scowled. "I guess a second reason for it is that since I'm the only one who knows the location of the village, I could, in theory, lead ANBU and the other village's equivalents straight to the village and it would be wiped out." Naruto's hand ran over the ring of the kunai on his right leg. "I'm not going to, but all of 'em are so paranoid that they don't listen to reason. Alright. That's enough for now. I'm tired and we'll need strength for tomorrow."

There was no arguing with that logic so the three found the softest bits of ground they could and fell asleep, knowing that Naruto's traps should hopefully keep them safe.

* * *

The next day, on the other side of the forest, actually within a mile or two of where Naruto was hiding with Moegi and Konohamaru, a three-man cell of jounin came to a halt after a scant few hours of sleep. Hatake Kakashi looked around with a seemingly inattentive gaze. In truth, all three of the jounin were used to running on just a few hours of rest and so were just as alert now as they would be had they gotten a full eight hours.

"Hatake-san, are you sure that your target is in the area?" one of the jounin asked the veteran of the group. Kakashi shrugged.

"Hard to say." He answered in a bored sounding voice. "I don't know where he is for sure and Naruto's always been unpredictable."

"But why him of all people?" The second jounin in the group asked. "I mean, the kid beat Hokage-sama for Kami's sake. What chance would the three of us have?"

Kakashi shrugged again. "I don't know what kind of a chance we've got," he answered, to which the other two jounin exchanged nervous glances, neither wanting to tangle with the Kyuubi host. "But I haven't seen Naruto in action since his duel with Tsunade-sama." The silver-haired man smiled, unseen, "I guess I'm just looking to see how far one of my students has progressed. Isn't that what a sensei is supposed to do?"

"I guess," the first jounin said reluctantly, "but wouldn't you rather wait until the Third Exam, or maybe the prelims if enough genin get through here?"

"Not really. You both seem to be under the notion that Naruto is invincible because he's got access to the Kyuubi's chakra and he's pretty powerful on his own. However, he does have two major weaknesses."

"What?"

"His temper, for one. Though he seems to have gotten better about controlling it over the last few years, he probably will still get mad fairly easily if you push the right buttons. Second is his love of ramen."

"How does that help us?" The second jounin asked.

Kakashi's eye curved. "Easy, Naruto sucks at using and recognizing genjutsu, unless it's really obvious."

The eyes of the two others widened as they saw where Kakashi was going. "So you're going to get him mad using a genjutsu of ramen?"

"That's a good idea, but I'd rather fight Naruto one-on-one. I'm just giving you two ideas to use if all three of us have to fight him. Now, we have to find both a heaven and an earth scroll."

"Why?"

Kakashi's eye curved again. "What's the point in fighting if there's nothing to fight for?" Not bothering to explain, the son of the White Fang bounded off, intent on finding both scrolls to tempt Naruto with.

* * *

A genin team from Kirigakure was moving towards the center of the Forest of Death, looking forward to ending this miserable exam and getting through to the third stage. Their approach to obtaining their two scrolls was to sneak up on another team during the dead of night and knock out the watch. Then they had proceeded to loot the opposing team of anything of value, including, by an _extreme_ chance, the earth scroll that they needed to complete the exam. After lacing the area with traps to prevent any kind of pursuit, they'd double-timed towards the tower. Unfortunately, their rapid progress had attracted the attention of one masked shinobi and his team.

"Target passing Point A." The first jounin, his name was Tessai, reported into the radio that wrapped around his throat. Sure it was a little unfair to give the jounin teams radios, but in a real life situation, after a foray into enemy territory, a team would find itself low on supplies and equipment.

"Copy," Kakashi answered softly. His hands moved into a sequence of seals before stopping. The area rippled as the genjutsu took effect. By coincidence, it was the very same one that had given Team Seven so much trouble in their first exam. "This is Kakashi, genjutsu in place."

"Kisuke roger. Targets are approaching Point B."

The masked jounin felt a rush of pleasure pass through him. These genin were heading straight into the trap that the jounin squad had laid for them. It would be quick and clean. The genin would be led in circles until Kakashi released the jutsu and sent them on a course straight into a pit that had been pre-dug whereupon they would fall in and the Kage Bunshins of Kisuke and Tessai waiting inside would relieve them of their scrolls.

'Speak of the devil,' Kakashi thought, 'here they come now!' The hapless Kirigakure squad passed the boundary of the genjutsu and the trap was underway.

* * *

Meanwhile, Naruto, Moegi, and Konohamaru were bounding from branch to branch of the training area on the lookout for another scroll. The blond Jinchuuriki wasn't too terribly worried about the other teams. What he _was_ worried about were the Kusajishi sisters. Those two were nothing but trouble and the former missing-nin was sure that they would bump into each other at one point or another. Naruto only hoped that it would be during the Third Exam when his chances of taking them out would be much higher since he wouldn't have to worry about protecting the other two or the Twin's devastating tag-team attacks.

'**I don't know what you're concerned about,'** the Kyuubi said comfortably. **'All you would have to do is go up to four tails and they would be nothing but bloody smears on the trees.'**

'I'm not sure that four tails would be enough,' Naruto responded. 'Remember that they were caught off guard last time because they didn't know about you. This time it's different and I wouldn't be surprised if they figured out away to counter it.'

'**Then let me deal with them and we'll use the full nine tails! It's not like anyone could stand up to my full strength.'**

Naruto rolled his eyes. 'Gee, don't be so modest, furball. That's a good plan, but the time limit would be a problem. I can only buffer your chakra for a minute or two before all my chakra is exhausted and the youki burns us both to a crisp.'

The Kyuubi nodded, knowing that Naruto had a point, even if the demon didn't want to admit it. The time in which the pair could use the full nine tails was extremely limited. The youki and chakra would clash and the naturally more powerful youki would burn away the protective layer of human chakra. In order to keep them both alive, Naruto had to put up more and more chakra until he ran out. Thankfully, neither human nor demon had run into a situation where all nine tails were necessary, except when they were training. If Naruto ever ran out of chakra, the extreme heat and strain would do what four tails used to do to the blond, only it would be instantaneous, no chance for regeneration allowed.

They knew this for a fact because there had been one close call. Naruto and the Kyuubi had just fused and they were practicing, getting used to each other and developing tactics to used their newfound strength to its fullest. Both had underestimated Naruto's chakra reserves and the protective buffer had given out.

Thankfully, Kyuubi had been able to withdraw his chakra in time, but it had been a _very_ close call. Naruto had had third degree burns on every square inch of his body and Kyuubi had suffered from severe exhaustion, a result of moving too much chakra too fast. With the demon unable to do any healing until he felt better, the blond had been laid up for close to three weeks, in considerable pain, healing at a normal rate until the demon was able to speed up his healing process. Though he'd avoided any horrible scarring, Naruto did have one patch of scar tissue on his left shoulder blade. Neither demon nor his host could explain why it was there, but it was, and it stood as a reminder to play it safe when using Kyuubi's full strength.

"N…Naruto…Aniki…" Konohamaru's labored voice broke through the thick wall of worry and thought that Naruto had shrouded himself in. The blond looked back and saw Konohamaru and Moegi trailing behind, both were beet red and sweating profusely. "We…gotta….st…stop…" Konohamaru managed to force out, despite his obvious breathlessness. It hit the blond that neither of his teammates were used to this pace, nor did they have his abundant stamina. The three had been going since they had woken up with no break and privately, Naruto was surprised that they hadn't dropped right then and there.

"Alright. We'll stop for a few hours."

The two younger genin's faces lit up with relief and the trio dropped towards the ground below. It wouldn't hurt to rest up and see if they couldn't scrounge up a little food, seeing as they hadn't found much besides some unappetizing plants the night before.

The instant they touched the mossy and damp ground, the two exhausted genin flopped backwards, laying spread eagle and heaving great gasps, trying to keep up with their lungs' demand for air.

Naruto scratched his long hair in an apologetic gesture. "Whoops! Sorry you two. I didn't think that I was going that fast."

The only response he got from the two genin was Moegi's feeble wave of one hand.

"Alright. I'm gonna go see if I can find us some food. You two stay here and I'll be back in a little bit." The blond strode off into the trees, his cloak rippling behind him, much like it had done during his encounter with Kakashi. Naruto smiled at the memory…

* * *

The 'Sound missing-nin' bounded through the trees, on a mission to seek out and kill any and all Oto-nins that he happened to find. The blonde's flinty blue eyes scanned the thick foliage around him, trying to find targets in this mess.

Clashing chakras caught the blonde's attention and he stopped in a heartbeat.

'That's…familiar,' he thought, scrunching up his face as he tried to place where he'd sensed chakra like it before. It hit him like a ton of bricks. "Kakashi!" he cried to an empty forest. In a flash the hood of his cloak was over his face and the blond was bounding full tilt toward the battle, hoping he got there on time.

Naruto came to a stop on a tree, not too far from the battle. He could just make out the lanky form of the Copy-nin as he fought viciously, despite being outnumbered.

The missing-nin's hands came together in a cross shape. A soft 'pop' announced the arrival of a single Kage Bunshin. The two Narutos looked at each other before the clone nodded and hunkered down, concealing its presence until the appropriate time.

"**Katon! Ryuuka no Jutsu**!"

Naruto watched, smirking, as the fireballs killed off many of the leaping shinobi. Kakashi appeared to be doing well before fresh gray-clad shinobi showed up and one took advantage of Kakashi's mental lapse to knock him to the ground. Even as the leader cried in triumph and the enemy closed in for the kill, the Jinchuuriki was reaching into the holsters on his legs, grabbing as many shuriken as he could.

"I don't think so."

He let fly with the weapons and managed to hit every shinobi in a vital area. The cloaked blond dropped from the tree he was hiding in and approached the jounin from Konoha as he lugged himself back onto his feet.

"You alright Hatake-san?" It pained the Naruto to no end to be unable to say 'Kakashi-sensei' but he knew that if he did that the jounin would know who he was and then Naruto would be dragged back to Konoha before he could get his shot at taking Sasuke's head.

After affirming that Kakashi was indeed okay, Naruto turned his attention to the Oto squad leader.

"You traitor! Orochimaru-sama granted you a home when you and none, and this is how you…" Naruto got tired of listening to the man blab and sent a mental command to his Kage Bunshin, who tossed a kunai and hit the man right in the neck.

The clone overstepped during his attack and toppled sideways, though he managed to straighten himself out and make a good landing. It poofed out of existence and Naruto knew that it was time for him to take his leave of his Captain, friend, and mentor.

He paused at Kakashi's plea to come back to Konoha. For a moment or two, he really considered going back with the silver-haired man, but he knew that he still had to kill Sasuke. It was just something that couldn't be left undone. Naruto resumed his walk away from an offer to return home, each step taking every ounce of his willpower.

"Wait! Who's their leader?"

The cloaked blond sighed inwardly. Well, he might as well do this one favor to Konoha.

"Uchiha Sasuke." The missing-nin took the time that Kakashi was processing that to blur away before the jounin could tempt him even more.

* * *

Naruto dragged himself back to the present, smiling wistfully.

'Now there's irony for you. Not four months later, here I am, taking the Chuunin exam all over again.' Just as the genin bent over to pick up some mushrooms, ones he hoped were edible, a piercing scream cut through the forest.

"That was Moegi!" Naruto shouted, before he bounded up into the trees, heading back to the campsite as fast as he could.

What the blond found upon his arrival were two Konoha jounin holding his two teammates in a classic restraint that involved locking one of the restrainee's arm and wrapping one of your arms around their neck. In that hand, you could either hold a kunai to the neck, or grip you clothes in order make it more of a choke, which would allow a person to be knocked out and taken away for a hostage situation or ransom, or any number of unpleasant purposes.

Everyone started at his sudden arrival. The blond had to admit, it would be pretty intimidating to see a shinobi arrive out of nowhere with a cloak flaring everywhere and dust rings kicked up from the displaced air.

"I'll give you one chance," Naruto growled as he straightened up, making sure that the two jounin could clearly see him reaching for a kunai, just before the cloak slid into position and hid his hand from view. Now they would be on their guard, watching him to make sure that he wouldn't make any sudden movements. With the spotlight on him, now it would be easier for Naruto to work out a plan to get Konohamaru and Moegi away from their captors, hopefully with some Kage Bunshins that he could somehow get behind them. "Let them go."

"Sorry, Naruto, they won't just let them go."

The blond jumped at the sudden voice and his shinobi instincts took over. Before he could stop himself, he'd whirled and whipped the kunai at the speaker, who he registered was Kakashi. The lazy jounin was reclining against a tree, a violently orange book in one hand with a man chasing a woman on the front cover. Even as Naruto's thrown kunai flashed for the man's jugular, Hatake's own arm blurred and whipped something out of the holder on his leg.

The kunai that was speeding for the Scarecrow was stopped with a sharp 'clang' and a shower of sparks. The jounin had stopped the genin's attack by using the ring on his own kunai to catch Naruto's without even looking up.

'**It looks like the masked man hasn't lost his touch,'** Kyuubi commented. Naruto could only nod in agreement.

"Really Naruto," Kakashi said, standing up and closing his book with a soft 'fwap'. He stowed it in his kunai pouch on the back of his belt and began walking toward the Jinchuuriki. "I haven't seen you for nearly six months and this is how you say hello?" The silver-haired man twirled the caught kunai on one finger before giving it a light toss, catching it, then throwing it, blunt end leading, at the cloaked man, who caught it and put it back in its place.

"I wouldn't have done that if _someone_ hadn't snuck up on me!" Naruto returned with a grin. Despite meeting in these circumstances, it really was good to see the masked man again.

"A ninja must be aware of his surroundings at all times." Kakashi answered, giving his old pupil an eye-smile. "Now, I don't suppose that you'd be willing to hand over that scroll you've got on you, would you?"

The other shinobi snorted, "Yeah right. You know me better than that, Kakashi-sensei." He looked at the Copy-nin with grim eyes. "You already know what my answer is."

The tall man sighed, rubbing his spiky pale hair before smiling again. "You're right. I do know the answer." All pretense of cheerfulness vanished from the jounin's face. "How about a little wager?"

"I'm listening."

"Let's have a little test. For old times sake." Hatake reached for his pouch again. "Let's say, your scroll for one of mine."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow. "Huh?" Then his eyes widened when the jounin showed him both a heaven and earth scroll.

"If you win, you can take whichever scroll you need to complete the exam."

"What if you win?" The Yondaime's son asked, catching the unspoken second half of the conditions.

"Then we get _your_ scroll. Oh, and to make sure we know when one of us wins, how about we use these." Kakashi's right hand dropped into his pocket and wiggled.

The light and airy sound of bells jingling met the Jinchuuriki's ears.

"Oh come ON!!" Naruto screamed, clutching his head. "What is it with you and those damned bells!?" He leveled an accusing finger at the jounin. "Why not try something a little more original huh!?"

"Trust me Naruto, this test will be different from the last ones. Instead of you getting a bell from me," The hand withdrew from the pocket and, sure enough, there were two sliver bells with red cords dangling from Kakashi's gloved hand, "we have to take one from each other. Does that agree with you?" Hatake flipped his wrist and sent one of the bells at Naruto's face.

The blond caught it just before it hit him, as if it was nothing. "And if I say no?"

Kakashi's one visible eye grew sinister. "Then we abduct your teammates and all three of you fail this exam." His expression did a one-eighty, smiling again, "So. Are you going to do it?"

Naruto grumbled unintelligibly as he tied on the tiny noisemaker.

The Copy-nin put a hand to his ear, his own bell already dangling from a belt loop. "Sorry, didn't quite catch that."

All he got was a glare. "Like I have a choice."

"Good. So we understand each other!" The jounin's hand moved for his hirai-ate, and the blond knew what was coming next. The Sharingan blazed, the tomoe already spinning as the only man the Kekkei Genkai outside of the Uchiha bore it to the air. "Start whenever you're ready."

"Right." Inside, Naruto was swearing and bitching like he'd used to do as a little kid. The nerve of Kakashi! Really, putting him through this damn test again! Still, if the blond could figure out a way to get the scrolls without taking Kakashi's bell, and if he could just get Moegi and Konohamaru away from those two other jounin, Naruto might have a chance at getting them through this without having to redo this damn test! Of course, he would need to plot out a plan in advance, one that Kakashi wouldn't see through right away, and that would be difficult.

Across from him, Kakashi was deep in his own little world too as he tried to figure out whatever the blond might be planning.

'He won't look me directly in the left eye. When Naruto does look at me, it's always somewhere else on my face or in my right eye. It'll be difficult to get him under the Sharingan's spell, and I'll be on the defensive in a heartbeat if he lets out Kyuubi.'

The jounin didn't relish the thought of facing down the fox demon. After all, he was nowhere near the level of Arashi-sensei and even Konoha's Yellow Flash had struggled with the demon. Hatake also realized that if Kyuubi did indeed appear, he might decide to use Isukumi on the jounin and from what the man had seen at the South Wall, it seemed to be a demon's version of Tsukuyomi.

There was that option too. If things really got bad and both of them felt like going all out, Kakashi knew that his Mangenkyou Sharingan would be the only way he would be able to keep on par with Naruto, and the jounin didn't think the ultimate form of the Uchiha bloodline would be of much use against a demon. Naruto had weaknesses that could be exploited. Kyuubi, though, was nigh invincible, just because of the extreme power and cunning he possessed, never mind whatever demon-only justu it knew.

'Is it possible that I've overestimated myself?' the jounin wondered briefly, 'Naruto has proven himself to be able to go toe-to-toe with a Kage and come out on top.' He scowled behind his mask, 'If the rumors are true, Naruto's fought both the Kazekage and Hokage and beaten both. Still, I want to see how much he's improved on his own. Maybe Naruto could become a real sparring partner instead of a student. It sure would be better than having Gai on my ass all the time.'

The edges of Naruto's cloak flipped outward and several blurs shot from it.

Sharingan blazing, the masked jounin pulled out a kunai and deflected all of the incoming projectiles with relative ease. The attack turned out to be made entirely of kunai and Kakashi wondered for a moment why Naruto would waste his time with such a basic attack when he'd proven he was capable of so much more.

A hissing noise brought Hatake's thoughts to a screeching halt.

He looked down and saw each and every one of the kunai he'd blocked had been tagged with explosive notes.

'Oh shit!' the silver-haired man, jumping as high as he could, hoping he would be able to clear the blast and miss any real bodily harm. That was a mistake, more thrown weapons, shuriken this time, cleared the smoke from the explosion and arced for the hanging jounin. There was no way he would be able to change direction, so the masked former ANBU was forced to waste a bit more energy and brainpower defending himself from the spinning stars.

Kakashi landed from his jump, right as a second series of explosions touched off and the area was covered in thick white smoke.

'Smoke bomb,' he realized as he brought out a second kunai and took a defensive stance. Now he was at the disadvantage. Well, he corrected reluctantly, _more_ at a disadvantage. In order for him to fight to his fullest, Kakashi needed to be able to predict the blonde's movements with the Sharingan, and in this thick smoke, his visibility was almost nil. He had to hand it to Naruto. The younger shinobi had set him up, using the shuriken attacks and explosive tags to keep Kakashi distracted while the blond himself had readied and set off the smoke bombs. 'His entire plan was to catch me in this! Wow. He really has improved. Naruto's still as unpredictable as ever, but now he's added strategy to it. Great. I'm in for one hell of a fight.'

Despite Kakashi's silent acknowledgement of his improvements, Naruto still wasn't done. His plan was never to attack or limit Kakashi's eyesight. All the blond had wanted to do was conceal his own actions. Now they would see if he could pull this off. His hands made a seal for a familiar jutsu. The clone appeared and disappeared just as fast. Now that was done. Time for the next step.

'Where are they, Kyuubi?'

The fox concentrated for a minute, gathering as much information as he could from Naruto's other senses. **'Same place as they were when you got here. Hm…Stupid idea, not to change locations when the bombs went off.'**

'Maybe,' Naruto agreed, 'but you can't deny that it helps us out.' The fox had nothing to say to that as the blond headed for his real targets.

Meanwhile, Kisuke and Tessai were squinting at the billowing cloud of smoke that had enveloped the area they were in. Both were still restraining the Jinchuuriki's teammates and had been under strict orders to stay out of the battle until Kakashi-san instructed otherwise. So, it was no surprise when both jounin were frozen as Naruto charged from the smoke, heading straight for them and was already drawing back for an attack.

"Hold this one, Kisuke!" Tessai shouted as the jounin shoved Konohamaru over to his friend and partner, then moved to intercept the rather sloppy flying roundhouse that the chuunin candidate sent his way. The move was caught with ease and Tessai threw Naruto over to land at Konohamaru's feet.

Naruto shook off the throw, knowing how to fall and take a blow. He pushed to his feet, and as he did, no one but himself and Konohamaru noticed his hand slip into Konohamaru's pocket and drop something inside. Now to deal with Kakashi. The son of the Yondaime faked a rush at the jounin who'd thrown him before skidding to a halt and blurring into the dissipating smoke, which now was looking more and more like the cirrus clouds that Shikamaru liked a little less than the cumulus.

Kakashi sighed with relief when he saw his teammates unharmed. He'd heard the shouting and things but from the looks of it, they'd somehow managed to fend off the genin for just enough time and now the masked leader would be able to take it from here.

"Looks like trying to free your teammates failed, Naruto."

Naruto just sighed. "Yeah. I underestimated those two." He had to work real hard to keep a straight face. Thankfully, he managed to succeed. The blond couldn't believe his plan had worked. He undid the clasp on his cloak and threw the garment aside, the bell tied to his belt loop jingling. "Now. How about we actually get started?"

"Sure," Kakashi responded and the two sprinted at each other, arms relaxed and trailing behind them, muscles ready to snap and send kunai speeding towards the other.

Naruto led off, hand moving fast for the pouch on the far left of his belt. A kunai flashed out and Kakashi parried in a clash of sparks. The two bounced apart before racing together again, beginning a fluid dance in which it was damn near impossible to tell which shinobi had the upper hand. They were leaning and flowing, attacking and parrying, neither giving an inch, kunai bouncing off of each other so fast that the ringing was a constant noise in the little clearing. It was like watching two Hyuuga spar with Jyuuken.

Naruto leaned back and Kakashi's kunai passed an inch from his nose. Eyes tight with concentration, the blond followed through, rolling his torso with the attack, allowing him to get low and under Kakashi's guard. A flick of his wrist and Naruto's kunai was in a reverse grip. He stood, slashing up from the ground, trying to slash the jounin from hip to shoulder. The Sharingan predicted the move and the jounin's kunai in his right hand intercepted the attack and guided it up in a deflection, throwing the direction of the attack off to his right. Naruto's one visible eye went wide as he found himself wide open, kunai trapped by some weird move on Kakashi's part.

Hatake's second kunai, the one in his left hand, came slicing up and over, in a flat arc. There was a surge in Naruto's chakra then the blonde's arm forced down Kakashi's right, giving Naruto the room he needed to duck under the attack. Not a moment too soon either. The Copy-nin's second kunai passed close enough to take off a few long strands of gold hair. Naruto's lips twisted into a gleeful smirk and his empty left hand shot for the belt loop from which Hatake's bell hung. It was an awkward position to be in, but Naruto wasn't about to pass up a chance at Kakashi's bell.

Mismatched eyes went wide and Kakashi's foot snapped up, catching Naruto in the chin and snapping his head back, dazing him. Before he could recover, the foot dropped and slammed into his chest, using the Yondaime look-a-like as a springboard, giving the jounin the distance he wanted.

Both bells rang out as the two came to sudden halts, Naruto flat on his back, Kakashi on the side of one of the towering trees. The Sharingan watched like a hawk as the blond picked himself up, glaring up at the smug jounin in a tree.

"So, you think you're so clever Kakashi-sensei?"

"I've been told that on occasion," the jounin responded. Despite the light-hearted remarks, both had the most intense looks on their faces and the chakra levels in the area were almost suffocating.

"Yeah? Well then, let's see how you deal with this!" Naruto's hands came together in a cross-shaped seal. "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**!" There was a burst of smoke and four Narutos stood where there had only been one.

'What was the point of that?' the jounin wondered. 'They're all standing in a line. I _know _which one is the real one.' His dual colored eyes widened a moment later as the clones began bouncing all around, like they were some kind of possessed jackrabbits. It lasted only a moment before the bouncing stopped and four blurs shot for the base of the tree Kakashi was currently standing on. 'Dammit! I can't tell…Which one's real?!' He didn't have time to guess, the four were closing fast and Hatake only had a twenty-five percent chance of guessing the real one. Not good odds. Well, he could even the playing field.

Kakashi's hands made the appropriate hand signs. "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**!" Suddenly there were eight shinobi. The four Kakashis sprinted down the trunk to meet the four Narutos charging straight up it, and then it was an all out free-for-all. Kunai, shuriken and taijutsu moves abounded as the eight beat the living hell out each other, then there were only two left, one Kakashi and one Naruto.

'I found him!' the two thought together, running in. Naruto lashed out with a high roundhouse, his shin aiming for Kakashi's head, while the jounin's right arm sped for Naruto's face. The two blows collided at the same time and both genin and jounin burst into smoke.

"They were both Kage Bunshins?" Kisuke asked, not believing it. Sure he'd heard the rumors about the kid taking on two Kage and winning both times, but like with any rumor he heard, the jounin had been skeptical. Well, it looked like the rumors were true.

Now the battle turned into a waiting game. If these two weren't careful, they would run through every part of shinobi combat tactics and probably make up a few new ones in the process.

"Jeeze, how many tactics are they going to use?" asked Tessai, voicing the thoughts of his long time friend and partner. Kisuke had no answer.

Konohamaru and Moegi, despite being held by these two jounin jerks knew that this battle was quickly developing into an all-out war between two experienced and powerful shinobi. Who knew what jutsu or stunt one of the two combatants would try next?

"Wow. Naruto-aniki's really gotten strong hasn't he, Konohamaru-chan?" Moegi asked. Despite the jounin's arm around her neck, neither of the Konoha-nins had any trouble breathing because of the lack of pressure. All the jounin were there to do was restrain the genin, both to keep Naruto off-balance, and to ensure that neither of the junior shinobi got hurt during this little skirmish.

The other genin nodded as best he could with an arm around his neck. "Sure has. I wonder how he did it?" He grinned. "You think he would train me?"

Moegi rolled her eyes. "Oh come on Konohamaru, you think of nothing but training! When are you going to take me somewhere nice instead if going to a sparring area!"

"Hey!" he yelped, on the defensive now. "What's wrong with training?"

"Honorable Grandson, you have a lot to learn about the female mind," Kisuke remarked to which Tessai nodded his head.

"Ha!" Moegi crowed triumph coloring her voice. "You see!? Even the guys who caught us agree with me!" Konohamaru sighed as his girlfriend began to laugh in a superior tone of voice. The Sandaime's grandson knew it would be a long time before he would hear the end of this. To keep his mind off of Moegi's continuing taunts, the genin began to think of ways to get these stupid guys holding him to go away.

* * *

High in the canopy of the trees, Kakashi crouched, watching for his prey. It was a game of patience, and Kakashi knew that no matter how powerful Naruto got, he wouldn't be able to hide for long.

He fingered a kunai. 'Come on Naruto. Were are you? Hurry up and show yourself so I can take your bell!'

A little ways off, Naruto was having similar thoughts. Even then, he could feel his patience beginning to ebb away. 'If he doesn't make the first move, then I'll have to!'

He lunged from his concealed position and headed towards where he thought Kakashi was.

The jounin grinned beneath his mask when he saw the blond coming his way. 'Good. Alright, Naruto. I hope you enjoyed round 1 because it's time for round 2!'

* * *

Well, there you have it. Sorry I did what every Naruto author ever has done and made Naruto do the bell test again. At least I managed to find a way to make it semi-interesting, right? I know I could've put in the Kusajishi sisters instead, but that's next chapter...Oh DAMMIT! I gave a little away. Oh well, consider it a teaser for next time! .

**Glossary:**

**That genjutsu Kakashi used: **I have no idea what the name is and right now, I'm too damn lazy to look it up. Suffice it to say that it makes the victim wander in circles until they catch on to the jutsu. Used here by Kakashi to lure his targets into a trap.


	11. The best laid plans

Disclaimer: Sheesh, do I have to do this? Yes? OK then. I own nothing except Ayame and Sasame Kusajishi.

Last time: Naruto and his team are on the search for the scrolls, when Kakashi shows up with a proposition. Naruto is to take the bell test again. If he wins, Kakashi will hand over the scroll the team needs to complete the exam. If Naruto loses, then he has to hand over _their_ scroll.

This time: More fighting!

* * *

Naruto's eyes widened when a hail of shuriken burst from the foliage straight ahead of him. The blond skidded to a stop and sent a surge of chakra into his feet, shooting him straight up into the air. Now he pulled a single kunai from the middle pouch on his belt, before snapping his wrist, sending the kunai into the leafy spot.

Kakashi did nothing as the kunai whizzed through the leaves. His Sharingan had told him that the deadly weapon was no threat to him. The jounin heard the knife clunk into the wood behind him and he forgot about it, reaching into his pouches for his next assault. Naruto knew he was here, true, but he still couldn't _see_ the jounin.

A hissing noise made Kakashi dive from cover without a second thought. Just in time too, because the place he'd just been hiding blew up with an explosion that rocked the tree the two were fighting on. The blond chuunin candidate blurred into existence before Hatake. The shinobi knew that he wouldn't be able to stop in time, but perhaps he could turn his momentum into an advantage.

Kunai seemed to appear out of thin air in both of the warrior's hands, and they met in a cacophony of ringing steel and showers of sparks.

'Dammit!' Naruto cursed as he was knocked off balance and spun around by Kakashi's momentum. The only bright side was that the jounin was now on a collision course with the tree trunk that had been behind the Jinchuuriki. The eagerness in seeing his former captain slam headlong into the trunk was short lived, because the masked man rolled in mid-air and landed in a three point crouch, one hand helping to absorb the impact, the other, with the kunai firmly in its grasp, was flung wide, preparing to snap back into striking position. The blond had just enough time to register his mentor's pose before his vision was filled with a mask, silver hair, and mismatched eyes.

Kakashi's hand snapped forward, the kunai held horizontal as it raced for Naruto's throat. The other shinobi showed surprising speed and thoughtfulness that was seeming more and more his style as the battle went on, and his left hand dropped to the pouch on his leg, whisking the kunai there out with the subtle whisper of metal rasping against leather. At the same time, the kunai Naruto had already been holding came up and the blonde's two knives came together in an X shape, stopping the jounin's attack cold. He still went skidding back though, powderized bark kicking up around the genin's feet as the force of Kakashi's blow sent the duo backwards.

Naruto grunted and increased the amount of chakra flowing into his feet, trying desperately to stop the momentum before they both went over the edge of the branch. He succeeded just in time. The blonde's face went a shade lighter as he felt his heels rocking over open space. If Kakashi had managed to put out a little more chakra into his rebound, then this would've turned into an aerial battle real fast. Now it was just a matter of throwing off this rather persistent jounin.

Kakashi was grudgingly impressed. He really wanted to believe that he was still stronger than his former pupil, but it was looking like that wasn't the case the more this little match dragged on. Now both of the shinobi were in a stalemate, the three kunai clicking and clinking as they shook against each other, both from Naruto trying to throw off the masked shinobi and from each trying to maneuver their own kunai into a more advantageous position.

The jounin's eyes widened slightly when Naruto seemed to quit caring about finesse and went for brute strength, drawing on one of his greatest strengths, his inhuman stamina. With a yell both of the genin's kunai increased pressure against Kakashi's lone one and the result was the elder man being launched back a respectable distance. He was forced to flip over in the air, taking his gaze off his opponent for an instant. Hatake knew that he was taking a big risk in doing that because now he was certain that Naruto had the skill to pull off an attack in that crucial moment.

The blonde's gaze sharpened when he saw his former teacher's eyes leave him. Now was the time to attack! Naruto poured so much chakra into his feet for the strike that he left imprints of his feet in the tough bark as he launched at Kakashi like the proverbial bat out of hell. The masked man tensed as soon as his feet touched, bringing his kunai into a guard position.

A senbon flashed in from above, embedding in the tree, forcing both shinobi to bounce back, Naruto just managing to avoid being hit.

"Aww!" A voice lamented. "I missed!"

Kakashi and Naruto turned and looked up.

"Oh, shit." Naruto murmured making the Copy-Nin look at him quickly before returning his gaze to the two figures up on a higher branch.

"It's okay, Sasame," Kusajishi Ayame said, looking down at the two warriors with a cold and arrogant smirk. "It wouldn't be fun if Naruto-chan just rolled over and died."

"Oh, okay! I see now!" Sasame giggled, before pointing down at Kakashi. "Hey, what about the old guy?"

Kakashi's eyebrow twitched. Old? Who, him? He wasn't old! Hell, the jounin wasn't even thirty yet!

Ayame crossed her arms beneath her breasts, looking into the canopy as if wondering what to do. "Hmm." She glared down at them with one crimson eye. "Well, I guess we can kill him too."

"Yay! I hope they can at least put up a good fight!" Sasame threw one arm into the air, red sleeve flopping back to reveal senbon held between her fingers. She giggled, almost innocently, and hurled the deadly needles down at the two shinobi.

Kakashi and Naruto jumped out of the way in separate directions, their own battle forgotten in light of the arrival of the Twins.

Naruto's eyes went wide with shock when Ayame suddenly fazed into sight right in front of him, bent low with a smirk plastered on her face as she trailed one hand across the ground, turning her own momentum into force as she brought one foot around in a wide arc. The former missing-nin had only enough time to raise his arms to block before the foot connected. The Jinchuuriki grunted as the kunoichi's blow sent him flying out into space, just before he slammed hard into another tree trunk, the speed at which he'd been moving great enough to put a depression around his body.

Naruto felt himself begin to tip forward and he poured chakra into his right hand and feet, anchoring him to the side of the tree like an oversized gecko, his free hand shooting into a belt pouch in the same instant, reaching for a knife to replace the one he'd dropped to counter Ayame.

The blue-clad woman smirked before lunging at him again.

* * *

Over on the tree, Kakashi and Sasame were going at it. There was a constant ringing filling the air as senbon and kunai bounced off each other. Sasame thrust with her senbon at Kakashi's face, but the Sharingan saw the move coming and the silver-haired jounin leaned to the side, the needle passing inches from his mask. He countered, his knife held in reverse, skimming just inches under Sasame's arm as she overextended and Kakashi took advantage of that to strike, fully intending to bury his kunai between her ribs.

The knife flipped over, allowing the point to come in for a stab instead of a slash.

"Whoops!" the kunoichi chirped as the threw her right leg back behind her, allowing her body to follow the motion and get out of the way of the incoming knife. Hatake, caught completely off guard by the girl's moves, stumbled past, off balance and completely open to a counter. He braced for the pain of senbon embedding themselves in his back.

It never came. When Kakashi looked around, Sasame appeared to be more interested in checking her dress for rips than in fighting him. The former ANBU was nonplussed. Why the hell wouldn't she take advantage of what happened and counter-attack? Was it some sort of plan, like what Shikamaru would do? Or was it just that the woman was more interested in her appearance, like Sakura used to do? _Or_ was it possible that she was just as unpredictable as Naruto? The possibilities made even the genius Kakashi's head spin. He tended to be a fair judge of character, mostly getting right, but he did screw up occasionally, like he'd done with Sasuke. This kunoichi, though, was a complete mystery. Hatake privately thought that even the Sandaime, known for his jutsu knowledge and his intuition about people's character and true motives, would be thrown for a loop.

The jounin decided that he would test the waters first and see just what this perky girl (it was somehow hard to think of this person as a woman) could do. He returned his kunai to its place in his leg pouch and began making hand seals, finally catching the attention of Sasame, who just looked on, tilting her head and wonder at what Kakashi was going to do clear in her eyes.

* * *

Naruto grunted as he managed to soften a blow to his midsection, but still taking damage and being pushed away all the same. He crouched low, dragging his hand along the bark, the other hand protectively covering his stomach. The blond finally managed to stop himself and he stood up.

Across from him, Ayame stood from the semi-lean she'd been in when her fist had crashed into him. The kunoichi crossed her arms with a huff, looking at Naruto with an annoyed glare as he wobbled back upright.

"Wow. You're _pathetic_ aren't you." She said simply. Naruto stiffened at her words. Ayame went on, "You're not Uzumaki Naruto. Uzumaki would've at least _scratched _me by now. You've done nothing but run away." A cold look settled over her. "Fight seriously, otherwise I'll kill you now."

Naruto growled low in his throat, returning the kunoichi's glare with one steely blue eye, the other hidden by his long hair. The thing was, he would've _loved_ to go all out against Ayame, but the problem was Kakashi.

'**Why in the nine hells are you worried about him of all people?'** Kyuubi asked, speaking for the first time in awhile, having just been lurking in the back of Naruto's mind watching the fight progress. Now Ayame's threat had the fox worried, not for Naruto per say, but for his own continued existence, since if Naruto bit it, the demon would die as well. Both of the two in Naruto's mind knew that Ayame was more than capable of killing the blond in that moment.

'He's fighting Sasame,' Naruto replied simply, making the demon cock his head in puzzlement.

'**So? It's not like the Copy-Nin would fall so easily.'**

Naruto flicked a quick glance at the demon. 'Think furball. Remember what happened last time we fought Sasame?' The genin felt a ripple in fox's youki, the chakra responding to the demon's surprise.

'**Damn,'** he swore, **'I did forget.'** The massive beast looked down at the man who was almost a carbon copy of the blond bastard who'd put the demon here in the first place. **'What're you going to do?'**

'I can't fight Ayame full-on right now because that would drain me of chakra, and I'm already a little tired from fighting Kakashi.' As if to illustrate his point, the bell hanging from the man's belt jingled as a gentle wind passed through the massive trees in the forest. 'Besides, if it comes down to Kakashi knocking Sasame out, I'm gonna need all the chakra I can get.'

Kyuubi sighed, grinning slightly. Naruto, his attention elsewhere, didn't notice. **'Fine then.' **The fox said, raising himself up off his massive haunches. The former missing-nin looked up, puzzled as his tenant moved forward, one long tail coming down to brush him back. **'If you're so worried about the red bitch, I'll deal with _this_ one.'**

'Kyuubi?' Naruto asked. It was the first time this had happened. Normally Naruto would just hand control over, or the demon would tell the blond ahead of time that he wanted to come out to play. Never before had the Nine-Tailed Fox just randomly decided to take over.

'**Shut up, brat.' **The demon said roughly, his sarcastic manner back in place. **'Why should I let you have all the fun?'**

The haze of chakra swirling around the pair's ankles shifted, blue human chakra sinking below the angry red of the youki.

Outside, Ayame watched with one eyebrow raised as Naruto's head lowered, throwing his eyes into shadow. "So, you're not going to fight seriously then?" She asked. One hand tensed and curled, a series of audible pops filling the air as the bones in her fingers cracked. "Well then," the hand raised, the blue nail-polish glinting in the filtered sun, "I guess it's time to say good-bye!" Ayame charged, her hand drawing back to spear through Naruto's throat.

"**Sorry. Neither of us is ready to die yet.**"

Ayame's eyes went wide when Naruto's hand snapped up and caught her wrist in a vice. She didn't even have time to wonder at what had happened before the blonde's other hand began moving, becoming a faint blur as he drew back and landed a crushing blow in her stomach. Ayame flew back, blood bursting from her mouth just before she crashed to the ground in a heap a few feet away.

Naruto stood up, raising his head to reveal slitted red eyes and thickened whisker marks. When the blonde's mouth parted again, the brief glint of fangs could be seen.

"**Get up, wench**," the fox growled with Naruto's mouth. "**I'm going to make sure that you suffer**."

Ayame's crimson eyes went wide as the sudden change in Naruto's voice and demeanor.

"Just who are you?" She asked, having never met the true Kyuubi, only knowing Naruto when he was crazed on the demon's chakra and the base instincts that came with it.

Kyuubi cackled menacingly. "**That's right. We've never been properly introduced**." His head tilted back and to one side, red eyes lighting up with an insane light that was reflected in his grin, which only stretched wider. "**Hello, my name is Kyuubi**."

Ayame only had time to gasp before the form before her simply vanished.

* * *

Kakashi's hands stopped flying and he held his right hand straight down, gripping it with his left. Now they were going to see just how good this girl was.

"**CHIDORI!**" Kakashi roared, lightning flaring to life in his hand, the signature chirping noise that gave the justu its name filling the air.

"Wow! That's pretty good, Kaka-jii!" The red kunoichi cried, actually leaning forward to get a better look at the jounin's one and only original jutsu as it sparked and crackled.

Kakashi's eye twitched this time. 'Again with the old comments!' He thought annoyed. Seriously, did he really look that old? Must be the silver hair. He shook off the thoughts and returned to the task at hand, namely running this girl through!

"Oh WOW!" Sasame said happily as she casually jumped over Kakashi's thrusting arm, even using it as a boost to jump even higher. She spun around in the air as the jounin from Konoha skidded around, raising his hand in preparation for another pass. "That's a pretty good jutsu!" the happy girl commented. She folded her arms, hands vanishing from sight in her baggy sleeves. Kakashi wasn't fooled. His Sharingan was picking up odd bulges in the fabric that pointed to hands making seals.

Sasame continued, "Still, it won't save you!" the missing-nin threw her arms backwards. "**Senbon Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**!" The sleeves came forward and Kakashi's mismatched eyes showed his shock as a veritable hail of senbon shot from the sleeves and streaked for him, visible only because of the glints in the air as the sun reflected off the weapons. Sasame stopped her attack and folded her hands behind her as Kakashi's needle-ridden body, looking more like a mutant cactus than a human, thudded to the ground.

The girl looked put out. "Aww," she groaned, her green eyes showing genuine dismay. "He's done already? I thought the Copy-Nin would put up a better fight." Sasame shrugged. "Oh well. Better check on Sis." With that she blurred out of sight.

* * *

Ayame looked frantically around for the possessed shinobi she was fighting. Somehow she knew that this wasn't going to be easy. There was no hide or blonde hair of her opponent in sight.

"**Know what**?" A brassy voice asked in her ear. "**I'm not over there**." Ayame flinched and whirled, but Kyuubi was already gone. A small noise made her look behind her, but there was no one there.

The blue-clad kunoichi could feel her pulse beginning to quicken, pounding against her ribs like a caged bird that wanted out.

A twig snapped.

Ayame hurled a shuriken and hit nothing but leaves.

Kyuubi's voice rang out again, seeming to come from everywhere at once. "**Now where did you get _that_ I wonder?**" Ayame hurled another star in the direction she thought the voice was. Cackling filled the area. "**I see now. You're using seals on the heels of your hands, just like that Uchiha bastard does. Clever, but the seals aren't as complex as that brat's are. Yours must draw from a stash somewhere, almost like a summoning seal.**"

"SHUT UP!!" Ayame shouted as she brushed her fingers across the almost unnoticeable seals and brought forth enough shuriken for a whole volley, wasting no time throwing them in every direction.

Hidden on a branch that was only large enough for one person, Kyuubi watched with his chin propped on one hand, smiling in a not-so-pleasant manner, and sitting Indian style. The smile turned into a smirk when one of Ayame's shuriken whizzed past him, lodging with a 'clunk' in the trunk just inches from his cheek. The fox chuckled softly at the woman's desperation as she fell deeper into the web he was spinning for her. Unlike Naruto, who was more of a tank than a stealthy strategist, Kyuubi preferred to break his opponents by spooking them until it drove them mad. If that didn't work, then, and only then, did he crush his prey with his power.

Ayame couldn't keep her cool any longer. Her eyes were darting to every noise in the forest, sounds that she would ordinarily ignore, aldrenalin flooding her systems, making her heart beat faster than ever and making her breath come in short, rapid, gasps.

There _was_ a way to force the fox demon out, but she didn't like to use it because it meant that she would be laid up for weeks. Not to mention that Ayame would forfeit control during that time and more than likely destroy everyone and everything in the area. Not something that she wanted to do if she didn't want the whole of ANBU coming down on her like a ton of bricks.

She growled in frustration and, though she wouldn't admit it outright, a little fear, as another of her shuriken whizzed off into space. Laughter from the demon filled the air.

"**Wow,**" he commented, and though Ayame couldn't see it, cat-like eyes following the spinning weapon's progress. "**Keep this up and you _might_ actually hit me!**" He paused for a second then added, "**Or make me die of laughter, I don't know which.**"

Kunai appeared from thin air as Ayame shifted the way her chakra interacted with the seals, allowing her to draw on a different type of weapon. "Dammit, show yourself already if you're so confident!" She hurled one of the knives, succeeding in only abusing the air. Again. "Or are you too chicken!?"

Kyuubi's hand twitched as Ayame's remark hit his one true weakness. His ego. All demons were notorious for being proud of their power and combat skills, so the surest way to get one mad and make a mistake was to piss him or her off. Of course, that was a double-edged sword as a mad demon tended to kill the offender in a gruesome manner. And the offender's mom and dad, aunt and uncle, grandma, and the third cousin three times removed, and anyone else who happened to be in the vicinity at the time.

"**Chicken?**" he repeated softly, as Sasame arrived next to her sister and the two began conversing in hushed tones that even the fox's sensitive hearing couldn't pick up. "**Me? The greatest of all the Bijuu? Chicken?**" Rage erupted inside of the demon, making his chakra, until now so carefully controlled and hidden to better spook Ayame, begin to leak out of him.

Inside the shared mind, Naruto sighed and shrugged helplessly. 'Oh boy,' he thought to himself. 'Now she's gone and done it.' Kyuubi was most certainly a fierce fighter, and he usually had an extremely tight control on his anger and other emotions, but when it came to his pride, it didn't take much to piss off the fox. Sometimes he was worse than Naruto when he'd been a kid, or Chouji whenever someone called him fat.

Ayame and Sasame abruptly stopped talking after they both sensed a powerful and ominous chakra nearby. They looked at each other, grinning, both now knowing where the demon was hiding. Sasame's sleeves came together again, bulging here and there as she made various hand seal while Ayame brushed her fingers over the seals on her palms, bringing out another set of shuriken.

Being sisters, and thus able to read each other like a book, no signal passed between them. Both just launched their attacks simultaneously. Senbon spewed from Sasame's sleeves like rain and mingled with the shuriken that Ayame had thrown. Both girls smiled, one more of a smirk, the other so cheerful it was scary, but the smiles quickly faded when a roar boomed from the spot, the undertone of a higher shriek making their hair try to stand on end.

A massive pulse of power erupted from the branch that concealed Kyuubi, blowing all of the senbon and shuriken away in one massive strike. The women braced themselves against the shockwave as it blasted over them, making the flaps on their dresses ripple and snap. A shadowy form dropped down and landed in a crouch before straightening up.

Red chakra began to swirl around the Kyuubi's borrowed body as he prepared to show these insolent girls why he was known as the strongest of the Bijuu.

Killing intent slammed into the Twins like a hammer, knocking the wind from them just by being touched by it and Kyuubi spoke, his voice hard and cold, containing none of the sadistic pleasure that a predator derived from playing with its prey. Now it was serious. "**I hope you've both filled out your wills.**" The fox growled softly, the waves of killing intent streaming from him like a hurricane-tossed ocean becoming even stronger.

The chakra, before now just a nebulous vapor, took on the shape of a fox, the most prominent features being the tail and ears. The tail lengthened until it was visible behind the demon. Then the tail bulged in the middle, becoming wider and wider until a gap appeared and the tail split in two. That was followed by the chakra around Kyuubi becoming even more defined.

"Sis…I don't like this!" Sasame cried to her sister. Ayame could only nod, her red eyes wide with fear. The last time she'd fought Naruto, four tails had appeared and the blond had gone completely berserk. It had seemed to her that the boy had, at the time, not had a full grasp of how to use the demon's youki. Now she was facing the demon himself, who knew how to use his power. Something told her that this was going to get rough.

"Don't be nervous, Sasame," the kunoichi said with a confidence she didn't feel. "There're two of us and one of him."

"So why not even the odds?" A new voice asked calmly.

All three looked at the tree trunk behind the angry demon and saw the bark on the trunk ripple as Kakashi strode forward from behind his genjutsu.

"Huh?" Sasame gasped, pointing a finger at the jounin, apparently at a loss for words. She whirled and looked down at the area where she and the masked man had been fighting. Where Kakashi's corpse should have been, there was only a needle filled log.

Kyuubi watched passively as the Konoha-nin strode up to stand beside him. The demon snorted, turning back to the two kunoichi,

"**Naruto's always bitching about how late you are. Guess you stay true to form, even in battle.**"

"Be quiet." Kakashi bit out. He had no problem in dealing with Naruto, but the lanky man had no patience for the demon who'd stolen his friend and mentor away for good. He snorted, knowing that the blond would be able to hear him. "Besides, I had a good reason this time."

'What?' Naruto asked, Kakashi heedless of his wondering. The blond genin looked up at the massive demon. 'Hey furball, tell him it's about damn time!' The fox sighed, not liking having to play the messenger boy.

"**He says that it's about damn time.**" The fox repeated, looking over at the masked ninja. That was when he noticed what had taken Kakashi so long. He let off an amused chuckle. "**I see. So that's what took you so long, huh?**" The Nine-Tails snickered again, one fang glinting in the filtered sun.

Kakashi nodded. "Sadly I haven't been able to find a way to shorten the time it takes to bring it out."

"**Well, just don't overdo it, Scarecrow. I don't want to have to lug your dead weight to the tower because you over used the Mangenkyou Sharingan.**" A wind passed through the area at the Kyuubi's words, as if heralding an ominous outcome.

Both of the kunoichi were frozen with the Kyuubi's pronouncement.

'A Mangenkyou Sharingan,' Ayame though in something close to awe. She'd only heard rumors of the legendary form of the Uchiha Kekkei Genkai. 'This isn't good. We're facing a demon and a man with a Sharingan of unknown abilities. Kyuubi is death in physical form and Kakashi isn't a slouch either.' She let out a sound that was almost a growl from deep in her throat. 'Dammit! I've heard rumors about that thing. A Mangenkyou Sharingan _and _the Kyuubi. It's too much, we'll have to continue this another time.'

"Sasame!" The red kunoichi looked over at her sister.

"Yeah?"

"We're pulling out. This has turned against us." The two turned their backs and prepared to leave. Ayame pointed a threatening finger over her shoulder. "Don't think this is over, bastards!" A flicker of chakra and the two were gone in a Shunshin no Jutsu.

The other pair, one shinobi and one demon watched without any sign of wanting to give chase.

Kakashi spoke, "I'm surprised that you didn't go after them."

Kyuubi snorted in derision as his chakra faded from sight. "**Keh. It was never the plan to take those two on at once. Naruto wants to wait until the Third Exam when he can get them one-on-one.**"

The lanky jounin shrugged as he made a peculiar hand seal and brought it up to his eye for a moment before dropping it and revealing his usual Sharingan. While that happened, Naruto's hair lost its wild look, his fingernails returned to a more acceptable length and his eyes bled back to blue, the pupils becoming circular again.

Kakashi smiled as his former subordinate stretched and arched, letting off a sigh of contentment when a series of audible pops filled the air.

"Ah. That's better," the genin said happily. He looked over at Kakashi with mischievous eyes. "Now, where were we?" Before Kakashi could answer, shouting cut him off.

"Hatake-san! Naruto-san!" Tessai and Kisuke appeared moments later, Moegi and Konohamaru on their backs. "Are you two alright?"

"Yes, why?" Kakashi asked.

"We felt immense chakra coming from here, so we decided to come and investigate! Where's the enemy?"

"Gone, for now." Naruto answered as he walked forward a few paces from his place at Kakashi's side. He turned around, drawing a kunai from the holster on his right leg, grinning at his former mentor. "Now how about we get back at it?" Naruto's eyebrows raised a moment later when Kakashi did nothing but examine the back of his gloved hand. "Hey! Kakashi-sensei! I said are you ready?"

"Sorry Naruto," the jounin replied lightly, the tone in his voice screaming at Naruto that something was up. The silver-haired man had used that tone before when Team Seven had first formed, and it usually meant trouble for Sasuke, Sakura, and him. "This battle's over." To illustrate his point, the masked shinobi held up his right hand.

Dangling from it was a tiny silver bell with a red cord.

"Wha…?" Naruto looked down at his belt loop. Sure enough, the little noisemaker was gone. He whipped his gaze back to Kakashi. "How?"

Kakashi gave him an eye-smile as he pulled his hirai-ate back into its usual place. "Just now when you popped your back," he said cheerfully. He moved his wrist, making the bell jingle. "Looks like you've still got some training to do Naruto."

Moegi and Konohamaru could only look on at their idol's face, looking distinctly forlorn and downcast. Kakashi stepped forward, his sandals clunking dully on the wood of the branch. "What did I tell you, Naruto?" He asked. "A shinobi must be aware of his surroundings at all times."

Everyone looked at the blond quizzically when he grinned suddenly. "That's true," he said, still keeping his head down. "But you also told me something else. Way back during our very first bell test. Remember?"

Kakashi thought back through the years until he arrived at the memory Naruto was talking about…

* * *

_Twelve-year-old Uzumaki Naruto dangled upside down, caught in the rope trap Kakashi had set for him, using one of the coveted bells as bait. The impulsive child had seen the bell and gone right for it, landing him in his current predicament. Now he was busy swearing up a storm using words that no child should've known and putting said words together in strings that would singe the ears off a sailor._

"_Y'know," Kakashi said conversationally as he picked up the bell from the ground and tied it back to its place at his hip. "You're not very good at this are you?"_

"_Screw you!" Naruto shouted defiantly._

_Hatake chuckled, the kid reminding him _a lot_ of his old friend Uchiha Obito. "Sorry Naruto, I don't swing that way." The remark set Naruto off again, his swearing growing even worse. Kakashi just watched him with an amused look in his eye. "Remember this, though, a shinobi must see through deception."_

* * *

"A shinobi must see through deception," Kakashi murmured, wondering how that phrase applied to this situation.

The answer almost seemed to be a signal because the bell in Kakashi's hand exploded at that moment and the Copy-Nin felt his arm be grasped and immobilized by something. When the smoke cleared, Hatake couldn't believe his eye. A Kage Bunshin was latched firmly onto him and was showing no sign of letting go. The real Naruto walked casually over and, just as easily, sliced the bell free from the jounin's belt. The son on the Yondaime retreated a few paces out of reach and only then did the clone dispel.

Naruto laughed softly at the look on his former mentor's face. "Sorry Kakashi-sensei," he said, not sounding sorry at all. "_You_ lose this one."

The jounin quirked an eyebrow. "Oh? And how do you figure that? You only have one bell." He pointed out. Tessai and Kisuke, having seen the test appear to be over, let Naruto's two teammates go.

"True," Naruto admitted, "but the other bell is in the area. Closer than you might think, too."

"So where is it?" Konohamaru asked.

Naruto's face broke into a fox grin. "Check your pocket." The other genin did so and, to everyone but Naruto's surprise, withdrew a tiny silver bell. The blond took the noisemaker and held it up, giving it a ring. He waited for Kakashi's confirming nod before he tossed the two bells back to his former mentor.

"Impressive." Kakashi said as he stowed the bells in his pocket. "When did you switch them?"

"Right after our battle started."

Everyone present just gaped. Konohamaru made a sudden noise of understanding. "So that's what you slipped in my pocket just after that one guy threw you!"

"You got it," Naruto answered, nodding.

"And that's why you took you cloak off," Kakashi said in a sudden realization. "It was to let me see the bell so I wouldn't have suspicions about a switch!" Naruto's repeated fox grin was all the confirmation he needed.

"So what about the smoke bombs?" Moegi asked.

"Simple," Kisuke answered, now seeing the full scope of Naruto's plan. "It was to hide the fact that he made a Kage Bunshin and had it use a Henge to turn itself into a bell. Naruto-san planned to let Kakashi get his bell in the first place so he could take Kakashi's!"

"You got it!" Naruto crowed. He looked over at the dumbfounded jounin, who was having trouble believing he was outwitted by someone who'd never been one for strategies. "Now, about that scroll you owe us…"

* * *

"Wow, Naruto-aniki, that was really something!" Konohamaru exclaimed, looking at the Heaven Scroll that Naruto had taken from Kakashi as he reward for winning the bell test.

The blond just grinned happily before putting the scroll in the pocket with the Earth Scroll. "Amazing what five years of traveling will do, isn't it?" Now the three were moving through the forest, on their way to the central tower to claim their spot in the Third Exam. Naruto was once again in his cloak; having retrieved the garment from the forest floor after Kakashi and his jounin squad had left. Ayame and Sasame were nowhere with sight or sensing distance, so Naruto, for the first time since the exams had begun, was allowing himself to relax.

Another day passed and the three shinobi finally arrived on the threshold of the massive tower that sat in the exact center of the Forest of Death. It hadn't been an eventful travel. After acquiring the scroll they needed from Kakashi and his team, Naruto had set a hard pace, moving only at night and sticking to the shadows, driving his team to the brink of exhaustion more than once. Konohamaru had questioned why they just didn't take a straight route in instead of going in circles like Naruto seemed to be making them do. Naruto's answer had been short and to the point,

"I don't wanna lose the scrolls."

That had been more than enough reason for the other two and they followed on without much more complaint. Now the three, two too tired to even think about standing anymore, and the veteran of the group, who'd done this more than once over his five years from Konohagakure and didn't seem the least bit bothered. Naruto looked back at his two companions and his eyes, until now the hardened blue steel of a missing-nin, softened and he grinned.

"Well, you two ready?" The rookies nodded, their throats suddenly dry. What awaited them on the other side of this door? An ambush or a vicious monster, something…worse? The answer turned out to be relatively tame. It was a simple room, nothing but bland dirty white walls, with balconies high up. On the wall was an inscription and, after reading it, Konohamaru decided that he couldn't make heads or tails of it.

"What's it mean, Naruto-aniki?" Moegi asked for the both of them. The blonde's only reply was to pull out the two scrolls from the zippered pocket on his pants, where they'd remained since coming into the team's possession.

"Why don't you two find out?" he asked, holding the twin rolls of parchment out to them.

The pair looked at each other before shrugging and taking one apiece. They looked at their teammate with puzzled glances.

"Now what?" The Sandaime's grandson asked.

"Open them."

Moegi protested. "But that crazy jounin said…"

"Not to?" Naruto finished, to which both nodded. "I know. Just trust me and open them." The couple exchanged one more apprehensive look before Konohamaru shrugged and broke the wax seal on the Heaven Scroll. When the world didn't end, Moegi followed his lead.

"Huh?" the pair said together, looking at the weird kanji written on the inside of the scrolls. "What's…." Konohamaru trailed off when the seals on both Heaven and Earth scrolls began smoking.

"Throw them over there," Naruto instructed, hoping that whichever poor bastard was called by this would decide to pop out while the scrolls were airborne.

'**You have to admit that it would be funny.'**

Naruto just shrugged, a small smile on his face at his tenant's remark. The genin had to admit, it would be pretty funny, he had to admit. Maybe if he failed this exam, he would try it and see what happened.

The scrolls fluttered to the floor with a gentle rustling and the smoking grew worse.

"Naruto-aniki…" There was a worried tone to Konohamaru's voice as he grew more and more against the idea of opening these scrolls by the second.

Naruto just nodded at the smoking paper. "Just watch."

As if on cue, the scrolls exploded with a loud 'BANG!' and the shinobi smoke intensified and expanded. Moegi and Konohamaru coughed and hacked as the smoke washed over them, but Naruto just waited to see the shape in the fog he knew was there. Slowly, as if time was lagging, the figure in the smoke became clear. For a fleeting instant, Naruto wondered if the person greeting them would be Iruka-sensei, like it had been the first time he'd taken the exam. Those thoughts were cut short when he recognized the figure in the smoke.

A figure with a short spiky ponytail that stuck straight up.

Naruto grinned and yelled his friend's name, "Shika!"

* * *

And thus endeth Chapter 10. Thank you all for being so patient with me. I know it took me way longer than normal to update, but what can I say? School's a bitch, especially with college mid-terms. Wow. Seventy-one reviews so far for the story...I have to admit, I never thought this thing would do so good. The number of reviews isn't that huge, but it's still a solid number, and so to all you, the readers, I give you my thanks and please keep up the good work. So what to look forward for? Well, I've hinted at some hidden abilities for both Ayame and Sasame. Sadly, you will have to wait a while to find out. . Oh, one more thing, my Japanese sucks, so if I completly butcher something, please correct me. In a constructive way of course. I have decided that there shall be _NO _Prelims for the Third Exam. I want to get past this thing and move on with the story. I think that's it. Glossary time!

**Glossary:**

**Mangenkyou Sharingan: **The highest form of the Sharingan. Usually obtained by killing one's best friend. After obtaining the eye, the user's eyesight begins to deteriorate at a rate that only gets faster with usage. The only way to stop the deterioration and restore eyesight is to take the Mangenkyou Sharingan from a sibling. The Mangenkyou Sharingan grants the weilder a whole plethora of ablilities. Uchiha Itachi can summon black fire, torture you in genjutsu, or do other things that I'm not gonna explain here. Kakashi's Mangenkyou can transport a victim into another dimension, however this comes at a high cost in both stamina and chakra. It is unknown if he has other techniques.

**Senbon Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Senbon Shadow Clone Technique/Skill): **An original jutsu that is almost exactly like Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu except it uses needles. It also takes less chakra to use because senbon are smaller than shuriken and there are more of them. Not sure if this is only unique to Sasame or what. Whether it is or it isn't remains to be seen.


	12. Revelations

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Ayame and Sasame and whatever other OCs appear here.

Last time: The team completes the Second Exam and makes it to the tower, being greeted by Shikamaru.

This time: The pairings for the Third Exam are announced _AND _there's a plot twist along with the (drumroll please) THE PARING FOR NARUTO! Yes, I have decided on who it will be. To those who don't like this pairing, don't worry. The relationship will be secondary, mostly for fillers and comedy-relief.

* * *

The lazy chuunin smirked at Naruto when he shouted. "Jeeze," Shika said with a yawn. "You're so loud all the time. Troublesome bastard."

Naruto shook a fist in mock anger. "I'll show you troublesome, lazy bastard!" The fox host got a sly look. "Man, Temari must be crying, going out with a bum like you."

Shikamaru didn't even dignify the slight with a reply, consenting only to giving the blond the finger. While the blond laughed at his friend's situation, the Nara turned his attention to the two genin and began explaining the meaning of the quote written on the wall behind him.

Later when the explaining was done, the shadow user was walking with the team to the room where they would be waiting out the remainder of the exam.

"Wow Shika," Naruto said. "Baa-chan really has you involved with the exams doesn't she?"

The bum sighed. "Yeah. It's such a pain, but she is the Hokage after all. When she says jump, I'm supposed to ask how high, even if it is troublesome."

Naruto just laughed at his companions whining. "Well, it could be worse."

"Yeah," Nara answered, seeing his chance. "I could be the loser who had to take it twice."

"Why you! You trying to start something?!" The Jinchuuriki shouted at the top of his lungs.

The other shinobi groaned and rubbed his abused ears. "Jeeze, Naruto, do you have to be so damn loud all the time?" He blinked as if remembering something. "Oh yeah. Hokage-sama wanted me to tell you to come see her in the arena after you finished the exam."

"When? Don't you mean if?"

Shika smirked. "Man, are you really that dense? Most of us in the Konoha Twelve know that you would make it through with no trouble. You should hear Neji. 'Naruto will not fail. He's too stubborn.'"

"Neji said that? Neji there's-a- stick-up-my-ass Hyuuga? No way."

"I know. Hard to believe isn't it?"

"Hey wait. Konoha Twelve? What's that?"

It was Konohamaru who answered. "It's the name the villagers gave to the Rookie Nine plus Team Gai and that weird kid who smiles all the time."

"Sai?"

"Yeah him."

"Huh. Has he loosened up any?"

"Hard to tell. I don't know him like you and Sakura do."

The group arrived at the room that had been set aside for the members of Naruto's squad and the four entered and took in the spacious interior.

Directly across from them, between two rows of red lacquered pillars with gold tops, was a window with a pattern of some type etched in to the glass. Flanking the window were two four-poster beds with maroon sheets and crimson curtains. Set flush with the corner to their left was another bed with the same trimmings. All three beds had wardrobes and a small nightstand next to them. Between the shinobi and the two beds was a sitting area of some type with a gold fruit bowl filled to bursting with various fruit and an incense stand that was spreading a scent that reminded Naruto of the clear mountain rivers he'd seen on his travels, both sitting on a varnished and shined coffee table. Couches ringed the table on three sides, and the room was dimly lit, giving a feeling of closeness and peace.

Konohamaru whistled. "Wow. Not too shabby for being in the middle of the Forest of Death."

Moegi agreed and the two younger genin rushed forward to attack the fruit bowl. Naruto followed at a leisurely pace and scooped up an apple before going to one of the beds by the window and pulling off his cloak and flinging it onto the mattress. His orange shirt was frayed at the edges from his battles with Kakashi and the Twins and his black pants had holes in them from near misses. His hirai-ate though, was still in good shape, but the thing was showing signs of wear, like tattered edges at the ends of the long ties, and the metal plate was scratched somewhat.

Naruto removed the identifier and cursed when he saw the damaged. "Shit. Gonna have to replace it if this keeps up." He really didn't want to do that. The headband held a special significance, a reminder of happier times when he didn't have to contemplate killing his former best friend. The blond shrugged and tied the small piece of armor back into its place before heading for the door.

"Moegi, Konohamaru, I'm gonna go see Baa-chan. I'll be back later."

"Sure, Naruto-aniki. Tell the old lady I said hi."

"Okay, later you two."

Shika and Naruto left, Shikamaru heading for whatever else he was supposed to be doing and Naruto going for the arena where he'd first proven he wasn't the Dead Last anymore.

He smiled when he saw the arena, complete with the hands folded into the shinobi seal. 'It brings back memories.' He found a spot in the middle of the floor. It didn't look any different from the rest, but he knew that this was where he'd fooled Kiba into punching out Akamaru and later Lee had drilled Gaara into this spot with the Renge.

After a minute, he got impatient and shouted to the thin air. "Alright, Baa-chan! Just where the hell are you!?"

"Right behind you, Naruto."

Naruto whirled and saw his adoptive mother-slash-sister-slash- evil-tempered-grandma standing on one of the two balconies that ringed the area.

"Baa-chan! What's this about?"

The leader of all Konoha vaulted over the railing and landed in a crouch before walking over to him.

"It's about something Kakashi told me about during the exam, after his little battle with you. He sent Pakkun to me with a warning of a threat and told me to ask you about it." She cocked her head. "Something about two sadist kunoichi?"

"Oh that. I should've realized he'd tell you about it."

"Who are they? Anko's evil twins or something?"

Naruto shuddered. "Kami I hope not. One Anko is bad enough. No, these two are a pair I met on my traveling."

Tsunade was silent as Naruto began explaining. By the end her brown eyes were grim. "So they're missing-nins?"

"Sorta."

"Well, we'll just let ANBU deal with them."

"NO!" Naruto's vehemence in his answer startled the Godaime. Just for an instant, his bright eyes had darkened into those of a shinobi who'd seen and done too much. Not the eyes of the Kyuubi, they were the eyes of a hardened veteran who was willing to do what was necessary. They reminded her of the ex-hunter-nin Ken, the shinobi who'd confirmed Orochimaru's death. When he'd been on active duty, his eyes were downright scary, but off duty they were just as bright as Naruto's. The Hokage couldn't help but wonder when Naruto's eyes had gotten like that.

"Why?"

"Because. Even the captain of all ANBU would get his ass handed to him by those two. There's something weird about them. Sasame I know what it is for sure, but Ayame's another story. There's something more to her, but I don't know what it is. The furball does, but he won't tell me for some reason."

"Do you have an idea?" Tsunade asked, wondering how she would deal with this threat if even Konoha's elite couldn't handle them.

Naruto shook his head. "No. Every time I ask Kyuubi he says that he'll tell me when I need to know or I'll figure it out." He rubbed his neck. "The hairs on my neck stand up every time he says that. It usually means trouble for me."

"So the two of you are double trouble then?" The Sannin asked with a wry smile, not able to resist teasing her little brother.

Naruto's eye twitched. "Shut up," he said with the annoyed whiny voice Tsunade knew so well.

"What'll we do?"

The humor leaked off Naruto's face. The blond was silent a moment before answering. "Just let me handle it. Of everyone in Konoha, I'm the one who has the most experience in dealing with them. I was planning on taking them out in the Third Exam anyway."

"You think they'll make it that far?"

There was no humor in Naruto's smile. "Yeah. I'm their target, so they won't rest until I'm six feet under or they're the dead ones."

Tsunade was quiet as she considered the options, going through everything from suspending the exams to assigning Naruto an ANBU team to help out with the Twins. Finally she sighed, realizing that the Yondaime look-alike was right. "Alright. The Twins are your problem, but if you need help, don't hesitate to ask."

Naruto laughed. "Don't worry Baa-chan! If I can survive working for Snake-bastard, I know I can handle this. I'll be fine!" He walked away and Tsunade stared after him for a long time before turning to leave herself.

"Be careful Naruto." She whispered to thin air. "I don't think I could lose another little brother." Her worry was valid. The world of the shinobi was treacherous to begin with, but with the Twins, Sasuke, _and_ the Akatsuki all out for Naruto's head, it was even more so for him. There was a burst of smoke and Tsunade was gone.

* * *

The remaining days in the exam passed with little significance. Finally Shikamaru arrived at the room that Naruto and his team was living in. He knocked on the frame and the slatted wood door was slid aside.

"Shika?" Naruto asked, his messy hair even more tousled than usual. "What's up?"

"The exam has ended," The chuunin drawled. "Tsunade-sama wants me to get the passing candidates together in the arena for her little speech."

"Great, I hate speeches! They're so troublesome!" Even if it was Naruto's beloved Baa-chan doing the speaking.

"Hey, that's my line."

Naruto got the shock of his life when he saw just who had passed the exam. There were only five other people in the room besides him and the two younger shinobi. Ayame and Sasame were there, that was no surprise, and there was another team who, from their hirai-ate, were from Kirigakure.

'Eight people out of something over a hundred-and-some-odd before. Wow. Kakashi-sensei and that Anko girl must've really done their jobs to thin the numbers this much.'

Arrayed on the raised section at the end of the arena, under the hands that were carved into the shape of a seal, stood Tsunade in her formal Hokage robes, and her entourage, including Shizune and Sakura, Kakashi, Anko, Ibiki, Iruka, Shikamaru and some others, including a team of faceless ANBU.

'Four ANBU for Baa-chan? Even with the Twins here?' Naruto thought, surprised at the meager numbers. 'Can't be, Baa-chan's not that stupid. There must be others nearby.' The blond began sizing up the people before him. 'Shizune-neechan and Sakur-chan. Well, Sakura-chan knows how to use Baa-chan's freaky strength, and Shizune isn't a slouch with those needles of hers either. Kakashi was in ANBU, so I know he knows a thing or two about fighting. Ibiki and Anko _are_ ANBU, so that raises the numbers to six active ANBU, one ex-ANBU and two jounin who are probably at that level themselves.' Now Shikamaru was the odd man out. Unless one looked at his family jutsu. 'He'd use his Kage Mane no Jutsu to hold Ayame and Sasame down while the others wipe them out.' Lastly his eyes fell on Tsunade. 'And let's not leave out the Hokage herself.' Tsunade would be able to hold off the Twins alone, at least until the rest of the powerhouses jumped in and everything died. But if the situation were bad enough for it, the Godaime would use that freaky seal of hers and probably come out on top, despite shaving off another few years of her life.

'**Let's not forget us either, kit. Would you really stand by while the Twins attack the old woman?'** Kyuubi asked, swishing a tail. Naruto knew that he would jump in at a moment's notice. The fox demon continued, **'Plus I've managed to catch the scents of four other people in the room. Probably more of the masked shinobi.'**

Naruto blinked at the sheer _force_ Tsunade had brought with her. Between the visible and hidden ninja, plus Naruto himself, you had enough power to wipe a sizeable army off the map. Add in the Kyuubi, who would just _love_ to come out to…play, and you'd have enough power to kill off an entire village and then some. He had to stop himself from grinning. Baa-chan had set up more than enough guards and, unless you were observant, you'd never even know it until you tried to attack and got your ass ripped apart thirty times over!

The Godaime stepped up and looked at them with a hard yet kind look. The look Sarutobi had used during those frequent occasions that Naruto had been in front of him, usually because of the havoc wrought by his latest prank.

"Congratulations to the eight of you. You've managed to make it through the forest, other genin teams and the enemy we set up for you. Now it's time for the Third Exam." The tension in the room sharpened at her words. "I won't bore you with the explanation of the exam's origin because I'm not as long-winded as my predecessor."

"Ain't that the truth," Konohamaru said in a carrying whisper. His grandfather _could_ drag out his speeches for longer than anyone needed them to be.

Tsunade smiled at the Sandaime's grandson before going ahead. "This Third Exam will take place one month from today and will be a tournament in front of all the village of Konohagakure and various dignitaries from around the shinobi nations. Take this time to train yourselves to become even better and come to the stadium where you will fight the person you are paired with today." At her words, a hidden panel slid aside, revealing an electronic screen. "Your opponent will be decided randomly and posted up there." The Godaime looked around at them. "Any questions?" There were none. "Anyone wish to withdraw from the exam?" No one moved. They'd all come too far to back out now. "Okay then. Let's decide the opponents!"

The screen lit up and names began flashing across it with more speed that even a Sharingan could follow.

"The first match is…" The names stopped scrolling. "Ayame and Takeda Yosuke!" One of the Kiri-nins shifted and looked at Ayame, who smiled sweetly back. Naruto shivered slightly, knowing what that smile meant. This guy was as good as dead, unless he withdrew.

"Second match…" Once again the names, which had resumed their pell-mell jumble after the announcement of the first pairing, stopped. "Moegi vs. Takeda Kanryu!" The Kiri-nin looked at the young kunoichi with a twisted grin on his face, visible even through the Kakashi-style mask he wore.

"Third match…" The names stopped and Naruto paled at the result. Shit! This wasn't good! "Sarutobi Konohamaru vs. Sasame!" Naruto went deaf to the world as he heard the result for real. Konohamaru? Against Sasame? The son of the Sandaime was either going to die, or be forced very close to death. Sasame may look more placid than her sister, and for the most part she was, but when she went into combat, the bubbly kunoichi was deadly, usually leaving her victims resembling porcupines because of her Senbon Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.

Naruto looked at his comrade and saw that he was pale and shaking, knowing just how deadly his enemy was going to be. He looked at the blond shinobi with wide, scared eyes, pleading with Naruto to help him.

'I can't. I've got training myself…' His sapphire gaze landed on Kakashi. 'But maybe Kakashi-sensei would be willing to help. I'll have to ask.' Naruto's opponent was announced as Takeda Koza. Apparently the three Kiri-nins were brothers. That was odd. Usually villages broke up siblings in order to keep them apart and increase the chances that one of them would survive to a ripe old age. Now the Yondaime's son looked at Moegi. She didn't look frightened, but that was because she wasn't looking far enough ahead. If she beat Kanryu, she would be up against Ayame, and that was a death sentence. Both his teammates were against the most lethal foes possible and there was not a _damn_ thing Naruto could do!

He became vaguely aware of the crowd dispersing, heading for the outside world and Konoha beyond. Only the Konoha team didn't move, both Moegi and Naruto looking at Konohamaru, who was shaking like a leaf in the wind now.

When he spoke, his voice was eerily steady, as if he'd already given up. "Naruto-aniki? Am I going to die?"

That simple statement hit Naruto like punch in the gut. He was out of his element, not being able to comfort a person like this. His was more of a spontaneous thing, giving support when the going looked grim. Konohamaru needed to know that someone powerful had his back. He led the genin over to the raised stage in front of the still-present entourage. They sat and Moegi latched onto her boyfriend, laying her head on his shoulder in an effort to ease his strife.

"Will you die? I can't say for sure." Naruto said slowly, staring at the massive double doors on the other side of the room. "You could always withdraw, but I know you well enough to know you won't to that. You're a lot like me that way."

Konohamaru looked close to tears now, but he smiled weakly. "We have to find you a badass sensei to train you. I would, but there's a couple things I need to work on and it's going to take up a lot of my time." The Honorable Grandson felt a single tear run down his cheek.

"What am I going to do?" He sniffed.

"That's up to you. You can withdraw from the Exams or we can find you a good sensei." Naruto looked at the teen, knowing he needed more than a few assurances. Something he could really take refuge in. Naruto sighed as he reached what he deemed was the best solution. "Trust me, I've got your back."

"But they're just as strong as you!" Konohamaru protested.

The blond demon container nodded. "I know, but I have a partner that no one can stand against."

"Naruto!" Tsunade said sharply, getting the gist of where this was going, inhalations sounding from most of the present shinobi.

"It's okay, Baa-chan. I'm telling him of my own free will. It's not breaking that law if I do it right?"

The Godaime chewed at her cheek, but said nothing. The rest of the shinobi present looked tense, like something earth-shaking was about to happen.

"Who's this partner? I've never seen him. Is he powerful?"

Naruto smirked, but it was sad and his blue eyes were brooding. "Oh yeah. He's powerful alright. Not even the Yondaime Hokage himself could beat him."

Konohamaru's eyes were wide. "Who?"

Naruto looked him straight in the eye and Konohamaru knew that his idol wasn't joking this time. "My partner is…" He seemed to falter, as if it was difficult to get out, and the very air in the room seemed to stand still.

"Kyuubi no Yoko."

Both Moegi and Konohamaru's eyes went wide at the revelation.

"Y-You're lying! Yondaime-sama killed the fox twenty years ago!"

Naruto shook his head. "No. It's true." His mouth quirked in an ironic and somewhat savage smile. "I'm the Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi. Have been ever since I was born."

"But…"

"When's my birthday?"

"Huh? October 10th isn't it?"

"Yeah. And what day did the Yondaime defeat Kyuubi on?"

"October…10th!" Naruto saw Konohamaru looking at him with disbelieving eyes.

"You don't believe me?" The genin shook his head. "Fine, I guess we need some evidence." He stood and peeled off his orange shirt, letting the garment flutter to the ground. Shirtless, he walked out a few paces and stopped. Still with his back to the group, the blond rolled his head and shoulders before raising his hands and slamming them together.

"HAAAA!!"

Blue chakra burst into being around him, swirling and arcing like a visible wind. A burst of wind slammed out from the genin and sent hats flying and clothes fluttering. Slowly the blue bled to crimson and the temperature of the air began rising. The chakra formed a serrated ring on the floor around Naruto and began sending long tendrils into the air, which arced and writhed like tails. That ended and all was quiet. Then Naruto was enveloped in a red aura. He turned around with his eyes closed.

On his stomach were the remains of the Shiki Fuuin, the seal that kept the fox entombed in Naruto's body for as long as the blond was alive. His whisker-like scars had thickened, standing out on his face like real whiskers. Konohamaru looked at the changes his idol and elder brother figure had gone through right before his eyes. Naruto's hands, balled into fists, now slackened and both awestruck genin saw his fingernails had lengthened into claws. Then the Jinchuuriki opened his eyes and Konohamaru recoiled.

Naruto's eyes were crimson instead of their usual vivid blue and the pupil was slitted like a cat's would be. They held none of the warmth and happiness Naruto always radiated. Then the hard red softened and it was once again Konohamaru's idol looking at him from those the demonic eyes.

"Now do you believe me?" Konohamaru saw fangs flash when the blond spoke. His voice was still normal, and that helped the genin get over his fear. He nodded numbly. "Good." The Jinchuuriki walked forward and knelt before the Sandaime's grandson. "You realize that you can't tell anyone. All the adults know, but none of the kids, and I'd like to keep it that way until I choose to reveal it. Will you do that?"

"Y-Yes."

"Good. Now, I want you to always remember that, even if you lose, Kyuubi and I will never let you die. Even if it means forfeiting the exam, I'll use this power and tear Sasame to shreds before I let that happen!" As he spoke, the red chakra and eyes faded and returned to normal and the spiral seal on Naruto's abdomen went away as if it wasn't even there. Naruto looked over at Shikamaru, who was looking at Naruto as if he was an alien. There was shock, fear, and other emotions flying through the Nara's black eyes.

"How 'bout you, Shika? You alright?"

The shadow-user jumped as if he expected Naruto to run at him and butcher him. Then he started thinking like the genius he was and he found that he wasn't really surprised by the news. Shika remembered that Naruto had been impaled by Sasuke's Chidori, but had been in the hospital with only minor wounds.

"Heh. So troublesome. Always have to be dramatic don't you?" The chuunin grinned. "You don't have to worry. I won't tell anyone." He stopped for a moment. "Now that I think about it, it explains a whole hell of a lot about you."

Naruto nodded, then looked at Konohamaru. "Now, about finding you a sensei…"

"Don't bother." Everyone looked at the Godaime in surprise.

"Baa-chan?"

"I'll train him. I don't think Saru-sensei would've liked it if I didn't help his grandson to survive." She looked at the genin with a hard look. "My training methods aren't easy, but if you want, I'll be your sensei."

Konohamaru looked uncertain.

"It's your best bet, Konohamaru-kun," Sakura said. "Tsunade-sensei is a tough teacher, but your odds of living will go way up."

Konohamaru gulped, but nodded, looking only slightly eased.

Tsunade returned it curtly. "Good. Now come on. We better get started now." Shizune didn't protest, knowing that her master wouldn't be dissuaded from helping her sensei's grandson. Both the Hokage and Sandaime's grandson left and were soon lost from view.

"Naruto, what about me?" Moegi asked. "I'll have to fight Ayame, right?"

"Yeah, if you beat Kanryu."

"I'll train her." Everyone looked at Kakashi in surprise. "I don't have much experience with Ayame, but I'll do what I can." He patted Moegi on the shoulder and they left.

"What about you, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

The blond shrugged. "I don't know. I can train on my own, but I was going to hunt down Ero-sennin and get him to teach me a trick or two that I know he's been holding on to. Maybe learn how to use some type of weapon while I'm at it." He thought for a bit and grinned as he pulled his shirt back on. "Or go on a training journey for a month and spar with the furball. The possibilities are endless, Sakura-chan! Later! I gotta get moving!"

With that he turned and dashed out of the room.

Sakura smiled softly and shook her head. Really, some things never change.

* * *

Tenten wandered down a main street in Konoha feeling frustrated with the world. She'd just come from a sparring match with Lee and had gotten her rear handed to her on a silver platter. All of her best jutsu had failed her in the face of the crippled shinobi's speed and power. It'd been the same when she'd fought Temari-san during her first exam. The weapons mistress had tried valiantly, but in the end, she'd failed and Temari had gone on to the finals. It wasn't to say she wasn't formidable, but there were severe limitations on what she was capable of, just because she didn't have the justu palette of some shinobi or a supreme defense like Neji or the Kazekage to make up for her weaknesses.

'I could always find a sensei,' she thought. That idea was quickly dismissed, simply because she knew the never-ending torment Gai-sensei would put her through because she'd deemed him not good enough. If she were to get another sensei, he or she would have to be strong enough that even Maito Gai wouldn't want to mess with them.

The woman snorted softly. Did such a person even exist? If so, as per Murphy's Law, that person wouldn't be in Konoha. Still, she wanted to try, had to if she wanted to ever be as strong as her heroine, Tsunade-sama of the Sannin. She scowled. Even Sakura-chan, once the weakest member of the Konoha Twelve, was feared by her enemies (and some friends) when she unleashed her fearsome strength, taught to her by Tenten's idol.

Even Ino-chan had managed to make herself an apprentice to the Slug Princess. Tenten really didn't know _what_ the Yamanaka girl was learning because the girl hadn't displayed any feats of amazing strength nor had the weapons user seen her wandering around the hospital helping out with the work, like Sakura did.

Then there were the males of her group. Neji and Lee were frightening with their respective taijutsu. Chouji, Shikamaru, Kiba, Sai, Shino. All of them were fantastic at what they did, and, with their family hijutu, they all had a ridiculous amount of potential. Tenten was in the minority. She was a kunoichi and had no bloodline or family hijustu to speak of, a double strike that made her an underdog in a big way.

But even the guys of the group didn't compare to one person. Uzumaki Naruto. The blond was amazing! There was no way to get around it. The kunoichi for Team Gai didn't know what the man's methods were, but the results couldn't be denied. Seeing him take down Uchiha Sasuke with some kind of weird Kekkei Genkai, him beating Tsunade-sama in what had to be one of the greatest battles since Yondaime-sama killed the Kyuubi. She'd heard more recently that he'd even defeated Gai-sensei's "rival" Kakashi-san in one-on-one combat. The blond had left them all in the dust and Tenten was falling even further behind with each passing day.

At this rate, she'd even be as feeble as Sakura-chan had been when she'd first become a genin. The two weren't close, but they would go to lunch together if they happened to bump into each other on the streets and they'd talked about the good old days when the Uchiha had been in the village and Naruto had been the village idiot instead of the village's newest prodigy.

Tenten sighed and came to a stop, starting when she realized where she was. She was at the Memorial Stone training area, standing on the ceremonial bridge that crossed the brook that ran through the clearing of the field. The kunoichi sighed. Wasn't she hopeless? Even when she wasn't training, she ended up at a training ground. Lee and Gai-sensei must be rubbing off on her. Great. Would she start wearing green spandex next? It took the weapons mistress a second to realize she wasn't the only one there either.

A tall blond figure with a dark cloak was standing in middle of the clearing, a good distance away from the Stone. Speak of the devil; there was the latest genius now, his trademark over garment flapping in the light wind. Naruto's hand emerged from the folds of the concealing thing and flicked the clasp, the cloak falling from his shoulders to pool on the ground. Tenten didn't really see the purpose of the thing, aside from concealing his hand seals and when he was going for a weapon. The thing looked as if it would get in the way if he tried to do taijutsu in it. Maybe that was why in both the encounters she'd seen him fight, he always took it off. Maybe it was to free up his arms.

Now the man was rolling his shoulders and neck, apparently limbering up for some kind of training. For a brief moment, the kunoichi wondered why he was even bothering, but then she remembered the blond genin was currently entered in the Chuunin Exams and the second exam had ended about three days ago. This was probably the interim period where the candidates were supposed to be training. Well, if anyone were to pass this Exam, it would be this new and improved Naruto. The other genin wouldn't stand chance.

Naruto tensed and bounded off into the trees, his chakra fading with an alarming speed. Tenten didn't know what possessed her to follow, but she did, bounding through the branches, just barely able to keep the former missing-nin in sight as he moved from branch to branch with the ease and grace of a monkey. That was a weird thought, because Tenten always seemed to associate the happy-go-lucky guy with foxes. She didn't know why, maybe it was those weird scars on his cheeks. They looked like whiskers.

Finally Naruto pushed off hard and shot forward, speeding out over a boulder-strewn clearing a mile or two away from where they'd been before. Tenten slowed and stopped on the branch the blond had just vacated, heaving breath after breath. The pace Naruto had set had exhausted her, and yet he didn't even seem to notice. The kunoichi couldn't even find the slightest irregularity in the expanding and contracting of Naruto's chest, which she couldn't help noticing was very well formed. Tenten almost fell out of the tree. Where had that come from?

Any answer she might have given herself was stopped short when Naruto approached the biggest boulder in the field and held his left hand up by his hips, palm up. Tenten leaned forward expectantly. He was obviously about to do something. The move looked familiar, as if she'd seen it somewhere. The air over his palm swirled like a hurricane before it formed into a baseball-sized orb, tendrils of chakra extending from the orb, the technique spinning even faster, a soft glow lighting up Naruto's features.

Tenten knew this jutsu. It was the Yondaime's signature jutsu next to Hiraishin and somehow the blond had picked it. She'd heard rumors he'd trained with Jiraiya-sama before and he was well known as both a Sannin and the Yondaime's sensei. It was logical that the student would teach his teacher how to use his techniques. There was something off about Naruto's though and she couldn't quite place it.

Naruto drew back, pointing the jutsu at the boulder.

"**Rasengan**!"

He slammed his palm into the boulder's face and the justu burrowed into the rock face a ways before disappearing in a burst of wind that rustled Naruto's clothes and the grass under him. The Yondaime-look-alike pulled back and examined the hole closely. Tenten couldn't find anything wrong with it, but Naruto was apparently dissatisfied with the neat hole that had been drilled into the unyielding stone.

A soft curse reached her ears. "Damn," Naruto muttered, standing up straight and scratching his head with one hand, a puzzled scowl on his face. "Still needs work. I thought it would be easy!" His shoulders slumped. "I didn't change anything, just the hand I do it with. Is it more difficult to do it without using my dominant hand?" Tenten thought that he was thinking aloud, but he stopped and seemed to listen the breeze whipping through the area. "Keh, what do you know? Not like you can do anything." The weapons user wondered if he could read minds and he was talking to her. That was disproved when he shrugged and made the seal for Kage Bunshin.

Tenten's eyes widened when close to forty clones filled the small field. In that moment, Tenten knew that she'd found her jutsu sensei. Naruto was good at them, powerful enough to give even the Hokage pause, _and _he was a nice guy to boot. The kunoichi found it a lot easier to work with someone if they weren't rude and snippy all the time. Or loud and obnoxious. Now she just had to get him to teach her. But how could she do that? He might do because they were sort of friends and he knew her, but being busy with the exams, Naruto probably didn't have the time. She needed to offer him something in return, something that he'd need to use.

Genjutsu? Nah, she didn't have the chakra control to use them, and the rumors she'd heard about Naruto indicated he was the same way.

Ninjutsu? That was out. That was the reason she was here, considering asking him to teach _her_, not the other way around.

Tenten's answer came when Naruto reached into his rightmost pouch and pulled out a scroll. He bit his finger and ran the digit over a seal inked out on the parchment. There was an explosion of smoke and something flew high into the air. Naruto put his scroll away and held out his left hand. A sheathed daito landed firmly in his palm.

Naruto drew the weapon and looked it over, the keen edge glinting in the sun, visible even from where Tenten was. She could tell straight off that the weapon was first class. The steel of the blade was gleaming without a single flaw on it and the tsuba was polished until the metal shone. The scabbard was jet black that had been lacquered until it shone like the blade of the sword it held, a red cord wrapped around the end where the blade would slide in. Naruto sealed the scabbard away and whipped the sword back and forth a few times, as if testing the balance of the blade.

The clones cracked their knuckles and got ready to charge. At some hidden command, they surged forward, rushing Naruto, who sprinted forward himself, his blade dancing and flashing in the sun, dazzling Tenten as she watched. While Naruto wielded the blade with a reasonable degree of skill, it was clear to the weapons-user watching that he had a _long_ way to go 'till he mastered it. She could see holes in his defense even from this far away, and there were sloppy patches in his offense. The one or two times he used taijutsu to open up some space showed her that he needed work there too.

Tenten grinned happily. She had her deal. Naruto would teach her ninjutsu and she would teach him the finer points of kenjutsu and taijutsu. Even if she didn't really use taijutsu, she was still a student of Maito Gai and he made sure all of his students at least knew what the techniques, strikes, blocks and deflections looked like and how they were done. She could teach him and he could teach her. It would be a mutually beneficial deal that would help them both grow.

The weapons mistress waited until Naruto had slashed the last clone into oblivion before dropping out of her tree and walking towards him. The blond genin was in the process of resheathing his sword when he saw her approaching.

He grinned at her. "Heya, Tenten-chan! I was wondering when you'd finally come out." So he knew that she'd been there the whole time. Heck, he'd probably known the moment she stood on that bridge. As for the '-chan' he'd thrown in at the end of her name, it wasn't anything special. Naruto was just that comfortable around his friends. From him it was the same as calling Tsunade-sama 'Baa-chan'.

"Hi Naruto," Tenten answered. "What're you up to?" It was fairly obvious what he was up to and he knew it, but it was a good way to get a conversation started.

"Training for the Chuunin Exams," He said. "The third exam is in a month and I've got a long way to go. Especially with this," he held up the daito to illustrate. Naruto tilted his head, almost like a curious fox. "So, can I help you with something, Tenten-chan, or are you just stalking me for the hell of it?"

Tenten laughed lightly. "Well, following you was just spur of the moment, but I do have something to ask you after watching you train."

"What?"

She took a deep breath. Here it goes. "Will you teach me ninjutsu?" There now it was out and he could teach her or he could laugh at her. Tenten hoped it was the first one.

Naruto rubbed his spiky yellow hair with a sigh. "I dunno, Tenten-chan. I'm kinda busy getting ready for the Third Exam. I really don't have the time."

Well that was expected. Maybe he'd like the second part of her proposal. "Well, you're working on how to use a sword, and I want to learn ninjutsu. Maybe we could teach each other?" She could see the hesitation in his sapphire eyes. A bit more bait then. "You know I train with Lee right?" Naruto nodded. "Well, I'm not big on taijutsu like Gai-sensei and Lee are, but I know how to do it. Maybe I could teach you some of that too."

Naruto paused, rubbing a temple with the heel of one hand. "Well, I can't deny my taijutsu needs work, and I'd love to learn how to handle this sword." Tenten crossed her fingers. "Well, I guess we could work something out."

Tenten brightened. "Really?"

Naruto grinned at her. "Sure. We could both use the work right?"

"Great! So, Naruto-sensei, when can we get to work?"

The Jinchuuriki waved a hand. "Drop the Naruto-sensei crap. We're just helping each other right? As for when we get started…" He was interrupted by a rumbling growl that filled the air. The blond put one hand on his stomach. "We'll get started right after lunch." He grinned brightly and vaulted into the trees, Tenten following, heading back to the Memorial Stone to go back to the village for lunch.

* * *

Well, there you have it. Naruto is going to end up with Tenten. Why I chose her was because Kishimoto-san really doesn't go into depth about her charachter, which leaves me a lot of wiggle room concerning her personality, and she only seemes to use weapons in battle which means that there's a lot of charachter developing for me to do. The reason for Naruto revealing he is the the Jinchuuriki for Kyuubi is simple. Put yourself in Konohamaru's shoes. You're a genin in his first exam and you've been paired with a person who makes even your idol nervous. Wouldn't you want to know that _someone_ would be able to make sure you live? That was my reasoning behind it. I didn't even think about Shika until I went back and went 'Oh shit! Shikamaru heard that!' But now Naruto has an idea of how his friends will react, which opens the door to him telling them all eventually.

**Glossary:**

**Kage Mane no Jutsu (Shadow Possession Technique/Skill):** The Nara family's technique that allows the user to send out their shadow and take possession of another person's, allowing the Nara to control the victim's movements. Leads to a whole plethora of other techniques.

**Hijutsu**: Hidden/Secret jutsu.


	13. Training

Disclaimer: Ayame and Sasame are mine. The rest of this isn't.

Last time: Tenten goes looking for a teacher and manages to convince Naruto to be the one.

This time: Training.

* * *

"Hey Old Man, give me another miso will you?" Naruto shouted to which the elderly man who ran Ichiraku Ramen just laughed.

"Sure thing, Naruto," He said with a hearty laugh. "One miso Ramen coming right up."

Naruto didn't seem to hear him as he slurped up the last few noodles and broth in his current serving and put the now-empty bowl on top of the teetering stack that he had already gotten.

Ayame looked back at the blond genin with a fond smile from her place at the steaming woks. "It's nice to see that you haven't lost your love of ramen, Naruto-kun," she said.

"Why would I?" He asked as his eyes lit up as Ichiraku set another bowl in front of him. Now he dug in, devouring the steaming noodles like a ravenous vulture. "I haven't had decent ramen in almost five years!" How the blond Jinchuuriki was able to even speak a coherent sentence was a feat in and of itself, because his whiskered cheeks were bulging like a chipmunk's.

Next to him, Tenten could only stare as the man next to her continued to eat at a pace that made her wonder if the bowl would follow. Sure she'd heard the legends of Naruto eating half his body weight in noodles and broth, but never had she seen it. Iruka-sensei and Sakura-chan had told her many a horror story but the weapons mistress had just laughed it off as an exaggeration. Oh how wrong she was.

Ayame caught her unbelieving look and laughed gently. "You've never been to lunch with Naruto, have you?" It was more of a statement than a question. You could always tell who'd seen Naruto's ravenous appetite for ramen and who hadn't. Tenten shook her head mutely. She finally got her chopsticks to her mouth to start eating. Truth be told though, she was having a tough time with Naruto's racket happening right next to her. The kunoichi vowed to drag the blond somewhere else once and a while, even if she had to do it at kunai-point.

Old man Ichiraku laughed again. "Naruto here has been our main source of income ever since he was a kid. He was always emptying Iruka-san's wallet, and even managed to make Sandaime-sama a poor man every once and a while."

Naruto finished off his latest bowl with obvious relish and slammed the empty dish down on the wood counter with a happy burp. "Ah, man! Great as ever!" He stood from the stool he'd been perched on and reached into a pocket to pull out a wallet that was filled to bursting with ryo notes. The blond laid out the appropriate amount for him and for Tenten, then the two left, heading for the training ground, Naruto's cloak swinging onto his shoulders.

"Naruto," Tenten said, looking back at the stand with wonder in her brown eyes. "Just where did you get the money to pay for all that?"

Naruto laughed, scratching the back of his head. "How do you think I survived while I was gone? When I wasn't training I hired myself out as a mercenary before I joined up with the Sound and Snake-bastard." He shrugged. "It paid pretty well."

"But isn't that against Konoha's Shinobi Code?" Tenten asked, referring to the code that governed shinobi behavior in the village and during missions.

"I was a missing-nin at the time, remember? The code didn't exactly apply to me and I had to eat somehow."

Tenten shrugged, unable to argue with that logic. Even missing-nin had to eat right? When they arrived at an intersection, Naruto, instead of heading for the training ground, turned the other way, heading towards the thickest part of Konoha.

"Uh, Naruto? Isn't the training ground the other way?" Tenten prodded, wondering what the blond was planning.

"Yep, but I need something first to help me train you."

"What?" Naruto just smiled and vaulted for the rooftops, forcing Tenten to either follow or get left behind. Soon enough, they arrived at an apartment complex. The blond jumped from one balcony to another before stopping at the top floor and perching on the rail farthest to the left.

* * *

Kakashi was sitting at his desk, filling out some paperwork that, like the jounin himself often was, was late. This was the most free time he'd had in a while, seeing as he'd told Moegi to get some rest in the day or so after the exams so they would be able to start fresh. A tapping at his window made the shinobi look up. He blinked his eye once or twice to make sure. Naruto was outside his sliding glass door, and his raised fist made it obvious that he was to one making the racket.

"Naruto? What is it?" Kakashi asked as he unbolted the door and slid it open so he could talk with the genin. "Shouldn't you be training?"

"I was, but Tenten asked me for some help with her jutsu, so I need some of that weird paper you had me use when you trained me."

'Naruto's training Tenten?' Kakashi thought, mildly surprised. 'That's odd. I thought those two barely knew each other. Oh well,' he grinned beneath his mask. 'One of my students is instructing one of Gai's. Point for me!' The lanky shinobi nodded and reached into a drawer in his desk, pulling out a sheet of blank paper, about the size of an index card.

Naruto thanked him and then vaulted over his railing to land on the ground, say something to the kunoichi waiting for him, and then both of them sprinted off. Hatake just scratched his hirai-ateless head, wondering how that kid had so much energy and went inside to finish his paperwork.

* * *

"Okay, so what is this again?" Tenten asked as she held the small sheet of parchment and looked at it with a bemused expression. How was this supposed to help with her training?

"Right, this paper will tell us what chakra type you are," Naruto said, having no problem explaining what it was one more time. Hell, he'd barely gotten it the first time he'd heard it. "You know how the elements and everything work for jutsu, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, the same thing applies to people. We all have a type associated with our chakra. Take me for example. I'm a wind type, so I have an easier time with wind jutsu than most other people. This paper reacts in different ways, depending on which type you are."

Tenten just gave him a look that said 'Yeah right, tell me another one.' Naruto grinned at her expression. "If you don't believe me, then focus a little chakra into the paper." The kunoichi figured she had nothing to lose, so she closed her eyes and sent a burst of chakra into the paper.

"Well, that answers that." Naruto sounded satisfied, and when Tenten opened her eyes, she saw that the paper in her hand had gone limp and was dripping wet, as if she'd soaked it in a bowl of water. "Looks like you're a water type, Tenten-chan."

"So does this mean that I can only use water jutsu or something?"

Naruto's long blond hair whipped as he shook his head. "Nope. It just means that you have a special affinity for Suiton jutsu." His head tilted. "Besides, some shinobi have more than one affinity. You might find something else down the road."

"Do you have two affinities, Naruto?" Tenten asked.

"I might. I like to think that it's a fire affinity." Whether Naruto had a fire affinity or not didn't really matter. There was nothing else the Kyuubi could've been, not when even his chakra had a temperature all its own. The blond clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "Now, show me what kind of jutsu you know. And I mean real jutsu, not ones of your own making." He added as Tenten reached for her scroll.

The weapons user scowled at him and muttered a reply, looking away with pink-tinged cheeks.

"Didn't catch that." Naruto said cheerfully. Tenten glowered at him and murmured a bit louder,

"Just the three basics."

"No way! Only those three!?"

Tenten nodded, the pink in her face darkening. "Well, that's okay. I'll blame Gai for his obsession with taijutsu and leave it at that. But this means we have a whole lot of leeway with you, which is good. I assume that you can use the Bunshin?"

"Yeah. Can't you?" She asked. Surely he could use the Bunshin jutsu if he could do Kage Bunshin

Naruto laughed. "Nope. Can't do a Bunshin no Jutsu if my life depended on it."

Tenten gawked. "But you can use Kage Bunshin…" She trailed off, knowing Naruto knew what she meant.

The blond genin grinned. "Here. Watch." He made a single hand seal. "**Bunshin no Jutsu**!" There was a puff and a clone appeared, but it was sprawled on the ground with its tongue lolling out, eyes swirling and the color was all faded, just as pathetic now as it had been during his Academy days. No one would be fooled by _that_, Tenten knew. Naruto's hands shifted to a cross-shape. "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**!" There was an explosion and ten perfect Shadow Clones appeared. They vanished just as fast. "See?"

"I don't get it," Tenten said with a shake of her head.

"Neither do I," Naruto replied. "Now, I know you like to use weapons and a little taijutsu, so I think that the Kage Bunshin would be a perfect jutsu for you."

Tenten looked at him like he was insane. "Are you nuts?" She asked. "I can't do the Kage Bunshin!"

"Sure you can! I did it even before I graduated the Academy and I _sucked_!"

"But…"

Naruto cut her off before the kunoichi could protest further. "Look, a Kage Bunshin is more difficult, that much is true, but unlike a normal clone, they can attack and do damage, just like you or I can. And with all them weapons you like to use, you could, in theory, double the number you send at you enemy!"

Tenten had to admit, she liked the idea of doubling the amount of weapons she could send at her opponent. It would make her Twin Rising Dragons so much harder to dodge. Finally she nodded. "Alright, I guess we can work on the Kage Bunshin."

The blond shinobi across from her grinned and began showing her the hand seals for the technique, what its limits were and what _not_ to do unless she wanted to end up dead. It was close to twenty minutes before Naruto stopped talking. "You got all that?" He asked.

"I think so…" Tenten was uncertain that she understood all of it, but the kunoichi was positive that she had the basics down. Her hands molded into the correct seals and she concentrated on making a solid clone. "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**!" There was a puff of smoke and when it cleared, a clone, just as pathetic as Naruto's normal clone, was laying sprawled on the ground. "Damn," the weapons mistress swore softly.

"Hey, don't worry," Naruto said bracingly. "No one could get that jutsu on the first shot. I doubt even a Sharingan user could do it right the first time around." That was a lie and they both knew it, but Tenten appreciated the encouragement anyway.

A few more attempts later and Tenten's clones were showing no sign of visible improvement. The kunoichi found herself kicking the clone in frustration, forcing the failed copy to vanish in a puff. Naruto laughed at her venting.

"Jeeze, you're more like Sakura-chan that I thought!" he said, laughing. Tenten glared at him. "Right, why don't we take a break and you can show me some kenjutsu." Naruto unsealed his sword and unsheathed it, looking at the blade with a critical gaze, probably looking for dirt or something he'd missed from the last time he'd cleaned it.

Tenten nodded, still feeling a little put out at her difficulty with her Kage Bunshins, but brightening at the prospect of doing something _she_ knew how to do.

"Sure, I have no problem with that," she replied. She unsealed a katana from her scroll. "Now, get ready. We're going to have a little spar to see just where you are with you skills and what you need to work on." Naruto nodded, and Tenten could see various plans speeding through his eyes. "Oh yeah," She added. "No jutsu."

"What!?"

"You heard me. No jutsu, just good old-fashioned stamina and elbow grease."

Naruto fox-pouted at her. "You suck, Tenten-chan."

The kunoichi shrugged. "Consider it payback for not letting me show you _my _jutsu." She raised her sword to guard. "Now, come at me."

Naruto rubbed his bright hair with a sigh before charging Tenten with more speed than she ever thought possible.

'Fast!' She thought, just managing to block Naruto's chest-height slash with her own blade. The two weapons met in a shower of sparks and ringing steel before Naruto heaved and sent Tenten skidding backwards, completely unable to stop herself. The kunoichi knew that she had to use chakra to adhere to the ground if she wanted to withstand any more blows from Naruto like that one, but the blond wasn't giving her a chance, because he was on her like bees on honey, sword flashing and dancing, keeping Tenten on the defense simply through speed and power.

The weapons-user managed to stop skidding and braced, waiting for the blow. The attack wasn't long in coming and Tenten felt her entire body shake like a leaf in a typhoon as the power from Naruto's hit radiated up her arm and into her body. Now that the blond had stopped moving, she decided to switch to offense. Her blade shifted and pushed Naruto's katana up and away, laying his entire torso open for her. Naruto's steel blue eyes tightened as Tenten's blade snuck under his guard and stopped, tip quivering, just beneath his chin.

"Well, I think I see your problem," Tenten said, as she pulled away. "You don't have much in the way of defense, but your offense is good enough that I'm not going to worry about it for now."

Naruto stood straight as well, laying the dull edge of his weapon against his shoulder. "Okay, so now what?"

"Now I'm going to teach you some basic deflections and guards, then we'll go from there." Naruto nodded and then sat down to watch as the kunoichi in front of him began running through basic blocks and deflections, at first going slow, then picking up the pace. After that, Tenten had Naruto stand up and she ran through everything again, once again, slow then fast. After Naruto had a solid grasp of what the moves felt and looked like, the two of them began an exaggerated sparring session, moving at a normal pace instead of the blinding speed shinobi were capable of.

Twilight was in full swing when the pair finally stopped for the day.

"Well then, same time tomorrow?" Naruto asked. "I would go earlier, but I need to hunt down Ero-sennin. I need his help with the Rasengan."

Tenten nodded. "That's fine. I've got training with my squad anyway, so I wouldn't be able to make it in the mornings." Naruto nodded and the two left the training area, saying good night when they arrived at the intersection that would take them home.

"Bye Naruto!"

"Later, Tenten-chan!"

* * *

"**Rasengan**!"

Naruto's hand slammed into the boulder, burrowed in, then the jutsu gave out and blew him backward a few feet. Jiraiya, who'd been standing a few feet away watching, came over and inspected the hole made by the jutsu. He made a slight 'tsk' when he saw the inside of the hole had a spiral mark carved into the rock.

"Dunno what to tell you, kid." He remarked, looking over at Naruto who was practically on pins and needles behind him waiting for the verdict. "The form is fine, but it's just that the membrane of chakra isn't perfect, so you lose some chakra in the hit."

Naruto groaned. "Any ideas on how to fix it, Ero-sennin?"

The elder man's eyebrow twitched. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that!?" The hermit yelled.

The Yondaime's son smirked. "What? 'Cause you know it's true?"

"Well, I guess you don't want my help then!" The comedy act lapsed into silence as Jiraiya looked at the spiraled hole again. "So tell me, Naruto, why do you want to master using the Rasengan with your left hand?"

The blond blinked before answering. "I dunno. It just seemed like a good idea when I thought about it." The genin shrugged. "It's mostly because you won't teach me Hiraishin, or anything else."

The Toad Sage sighed in an exasperated manner. "Naruto, how many times do I have to tell you that I _can't_? It's not because I don't want to or anything, but because Arashi used some kind of strange seal that reacts only to him. Besides, I never did get what that kid was telling me when he explained it." The white-haired man grinned as he remembered the Fourth explaining how his Flying Thunder God Technique worked. "He was always pushing the limits of the shinobi world. That damn seal he used on his kunai was something that I'd never even heard about until I saw him use it."

Naruto's head tilted. "What seal?" he asked, a curious look in his eyes. Jiraiya began rummaging around inside a deep pocket on the inside of his haori, evidently looking for something. His eyes lit up when the Sage found what he was looking for. Naruto leaned in when the hermit withdrew his hand and showed him.

"This is the secret to Hiraishin no Jutsu." In the pervert's fist was a three-pronged kunai with a complex seal inked out on the handle of the weapon. "The Yondaime had so many of these things and somehow he was able to jump from seal to seal in a flash. That was how he got the name 'Konoha's Yellow Flash'."

Naruto's hand reached for it, but hesitated until he saw the Sannin's approving nod. He weighed the weapon and spun it around in his hand a few times. "Heavy," the blond commented, holding out again for the Sannin to take back.

Jiraiya shook his head. "Why don't you hold on to it for awhile?" he suggested, silently adding, 'It belongs to you more than it does to me.' The toad-user wanted to tell Naruto about his heritage right then and there, but knew that Tsunade-hime would eat his guts for dinner. The old lady had somehow gotten it into her head that Naruto would hate his father when he found out about what the Yondaime did to him.

Jiraiya wasn't so sure. He knew that Naruto wanted nothing more than to surpass the Fourth, though his ambition to be Hokage seemed to have taken a back seat to protecting his friends. Knowing that his father was the legendary Yondaime Hokage would make Naruto work doubly hard to pass Arashi.

Naruto looked over the kunai, somehow feeling a strange attraction to the weapon, before putting it into his kunai pouch. The blond looked around and saw Jiraiya heading away. "Hey! Ero-sennin! Get back here! You promised to help me!"

"I did help. It's up to you if you want to perfect your lefty Rasengan or not!" The old man Shunshined away, but not before Naruto heard a perverted laugh and a mumbled 'Reseeeaaarrrch.'

'Pervert' the blond though with a sigh.

'**Some things never change,'** The Kyuubi remarked dryly.

'You're telling me?' He checked the position of the sun. 'Shit! I'm late for my training with Tenten-chan!' Naruto bolted into the trees, sending leaves flying from where he entered the foliage.

* * *

Tenten scowled down at the latest attempt at a Kage Bunshin. Naruto was close to twenty minutes late and the kunoichi decided to try to make a decent Shadow Clone. She'd been up until the graveyard hours the night before trying to get it right, but the jutsu was still a little beyond her. _How _Naruto had managed to master and perfect the jutsu in just a couple of hours was beyond her.

"Well, it's better than yesterday's."

The weapons mistress jumped and whirled, spotting Naruto leaning against a tree trunk with a grin.

"Yeah, but I still can't get it!" Tenten protested as the blond stood upright and came over.

Naruto scratched his head. "Well, maybe it's the wrong approach." He snapped his fingers. "I know! Why don't we work on getting you some water jutsu instead? There's one that should help you out a lot with this!"

"Really?"

"Yeah," The blond shinobi pulled out a map. "Here's a map of the area around Konoha." He pointed to a spot on a river that ran behind the village to the north. "There's a waterfall there where I learned to summon from Ero-sennin. Wait for me there while I go to the library and grab some scrolls."

"Alright," Tenten couldn't see where this was going, but she had to trust Naruto. He was her best bet for learning new jutsu right now. The pair went their separate ways, Tenten heading for the falls, and Naruto hurrying for the village to get some scrolls on how to do various Suiton jutsu.

* * *

When Naruto arrived, Tenten was once again trying to perform the Kage Bunshin. There was a great improvement over her last attempts because the clone, though its colors were still faded, was now able to move and act like Tenten herself. The clone dispelled and Tenten tried again.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**!" There was a puff and the clone appeared again, but this time its colors were right where they were supposed to be, but the details on the gold embroidery of the Chinese shirt were off. Any shinobi worth their salt would be able to see the difference right away. Tenten slumped in defeat as the clone vanished. "I'll never get it."

"You expect too much out of yourself Tenten-chan," Naruto said as he dropped his armload of scrolls next to the kunoichi, who looked at the scrolls with a downcast eye.

"But, Naruto…" She started, then trailed off, worried to voice her fears.

"Are you worried that you'll fail?"

Tenten shook her head vigorously then hesitated. "Well…Maybe a little."

Naruto grinned his bright grin. "Don't worry about it! I always failed and look where I am now!" Tenten stopped, remembering the match during the Chuunin Exams where she'd been so sure that Neji would win, only to witness a stunning turnaround by Naruto.

The kunoichi smiled a little sadly. "Well, I guess." She looked curiously at the heap of scrolls on the ground, deciding to change the subject. "Are all these Suiton jutsu?"

"Yep! And there's one in here that should help you a lot with the Kage Bunshin."

"Really? Which one?"

"This one," Naruto pointed to a scroll and Tenten opened it, blinking when she saw the title.

"Suiton: Mizu Bunshin?" She glared at him. "Another clone jutsu? If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to turn me into a clone powerhouse like you!"

Naruto laughed nervously, holding up his hands in a nervous attempt to pacify her. "No really, I'm not." He pointed to the scroll. "Look, the Mizu Bunshin is very similar to the Kage Bunshin, only it's made from water and it has your affinity. It should be easier to do than just creating a clone from nothing. Once you get the water clone down, the shadow clone might be easier!"

"Riiight." Tenten didn't sound convinced, but she picked up the scroll and read through it, finding how to focus her chakra, the seals needed for the clone, and how to form the water into the proper shape. When she thought she was ready, the weapons mistress' hands flashed through the seals. "**Suiton: Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu**!" To her surprise, the clone formed easily and effortlessly. A perfect clone of Tenten stood on the river, just a few feet away from where she was kneeling on the bank.

"WOAH!" Naruto's exuberant yell made birds in the trees lining the sides of the rocky bank take flight. "On the first try too! You're amazing, Tenten-chan!"

The kunoichi gave him a look that said 'Don't patronize me,' but she couldn't help but be proud of her success. After constant failure with the Shadow Clones, seeing something go right was a real morale booster.

"What is it Naruto?" Tenten asked. The blond was scratching his cheek and looking like he was contemplating something.

"Nothing. I just remembered that Kakashi-sensei told Sakura-chan and me when we were a rookie team that Mizu Bunshins had a limited range." If Tenten saw the absence of Sasuke's name, she didn't show it. Most of the Konoha Twelve knew the history between the members of Team Seven.

"They have a range?" She asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yep. They can only go so far and then…" The blond thought for a moment. "Well hell, I don't know. I guess they would just dissolve or something."

Tenten sent a command to her clone, which promptly turned and began walking away. Both ninja watched with anticipation as the kunoichi clone got to the other side of the river, maybe fifteen feet away, then just collapse into a puddle of water without any warning at all.

Tenten frowned. "Fifteen feet? That's it? I won't be able to fight with only that kind of range!"

Naruto rubbed his head, blue eyes showing his puzzlement. "I know that Zabuza's clones had way more of a range than that…maybe it has to do with chakra control, or the amount the user has?"

"It doesn't say anything," replied Tenten, who'd picked up the scroll about the Mizu Bunshin to see if there was anything in it about expanding the range of the Water Clone. She stood from where she'd sat down to read the scroll. "Anyway, that's one jutsu down. Got any more or do you want to work on your sword skills?"

Naruto shrugged. "It's your choice. I really don't care."

His partner frowned. "Fine." She tapped her chin. "How about some taijutsu then?"

Another shrug. "Sure. That's why we're working together isn't it?" Tenten decided to get a little revenge for giving her a hard jutsu like the Kage Bunshin to work on by teaching Naruto about the Celestial Gates and how they worked, and how to unlock them. Naruto shot his mouth off, saying it would be easy to unlock, but ten minutes later, all the blond had managed to do was make himself look constipated. Tenten had just laughed at him and went back to practicing her two clone techniques.

When she looked over again, Naruto was sitting cross-legged on the ground, arms crossed and eyes closed. He had a scowl on and his eyes were moving beneath their lids. Tenten felt shocked. Imagine, the loudmouthed Naruto, meditating! Tenten looked up to make sure the sky wasn't going to fall on her next.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes and looked around. A dreary corridor with pipes crisscrossing the ceiling and walls met his eyes. He grinned. It was a good thing he'd learned this little skill. At first it was to deepen the bond with Kyuubi by allowing him to talk directly with fox right after the two had fused. After he was able to communicate easily with the fox, he'd given it up, but it was nice to see the skill came in handy for other reasons.

The blond shinobi set off down the dank corridor at a trot, passing doors that were locked, unlocked, padlocked, and deadbolted. Memories, he knew. Once the genin had opened one of the doors and found himself back in Konoha, surrounded by angry villagers and being pelted by rocks and shards of glass, the merciless shouts of the mob filling his ears. Thankfully, the door had stayed open behind him, so he was able to run out quickly. After that he'd vowed to stay away from the doors.

'Now I just need to find the room with the gates in it…' Almost as if in answer to his question, a door at the end of the hall swung open and Naruto ran through it. Inside was a huge room, easily more massive than the Kyuubi's old 'chamber'. Behind him was the door that led back into the hall he'd just come from. All around the edges of the, arrayed in such a way that led the blond to believe that the room was 'circular', were massive granite doors, easily as tall as the ones on Kyuubi's cage way back when.

There were eight of them, each representing, Naruto supposed, the eight celestial gates. The first gate was easy to spot. It had only one massive chain on it. All eight of the gates had a huge chain, ranging from one loop to eight, and on each chain was a padlock the size of a small car. There was no key or any way of unlocking the Gates visible anywhere in the room.

A voice made the genin jump. **'Impressive, aren't they?'** Naruto spun so fast he almost fell over.

'Kyuubi?' The fox's massive head came out of the shadows that loomed in between the gate doors. The demon's nine tails followed soon after and the Bijuu sat down with a muffled thud. 'What're you doing here?'

'**Coming to talk to you, brat, what else? Not like I've got anything better to do with my copious spare time.'**

Naruto shrugged. The demon had a point. He regarded the first gate. Now he could just barely make out the gate's name, written in kanji across the black iron lintel of the chained door. 'Any ideas on how to open these suckers?'

'**Nope. Trust me, brat, I've tried.'** The demon raised himself up and strode up to the gate, reaching for the padlock with a humongous paw. The moment the clawed foot got within a few feet of the lock, it crackled with raw power and _threw_ Kyuubi across the room, the demon impacting the soggy floor with enough force to rattle the whole place. The youkai stood shakily and shook his massive head, as if clearing out a daze. **'See? Damn things won't let me near them.'** He eyed his vessel. **'I suppose only you would be allowed to touch them.'**

Naruto just raised an eyebrow, but approached door and put a hand to the cool granite. No surge of power rebuffed him, and the blond stared up at the massive padlock that dangled some fifteen or twenty feet above his head.

'So just how in the hell am I supposed to open this thing?'

'**That vixen you've decided to waste your time on said something about great need or intense training.'** The fox's massive mouth pulled back in a frightening grin, revealing his long fangs. **'Guess you're just not intense enough, brat.'** Naruto ignored the jibe and thoughtfully rapped the door with one knuckle before allowing himself to come back to the waking world.

* * *

Tenten had just finished making another Kage Bunshin when Naruto stirred and unfolded from the position she'd last seen him in. The blond stood and rolled one arm and his head, probably trying to work out the knots that had formed from sitting like that for so long. Judging by his scowl, the attempt at opening his first Celestial Gate hadn't gone over too well.

The kunoichi decided to rub salt in the wound. "So," she said innocently. "How'd it go?" She giggled at the look Naruto gave her. It hadn't been so much a glare as it was a cross between a glower and a pout. "Don't worry. If Lee could do it, you could too, right?" Naruto glowered again, but then his face cracked into a mischievous grin.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**."

A puff of smoke later and there were fifteen Narutos surrounding the weapons mistress. Now it was her turn to glower. "Fine, I get the point." The meaning of Naruto's actions was clear.

_Hey, don't harass me about the Gates when you can't even make a decent Kage Bunshin._

Tenten huffed and dispelled her clone; this one was just a touch too tall. She had the basics down, but in the shinobi world, the devil was in the details. If one thing was out of place, the enemy would know it and her Shadow Clones would be useless.

Both shinobi spent the rest of that day working on the various tasks that they assigned to one another. Before long, it was evening and the two once again said goodnight, heading their separate ways until the next afternoon when they would work on something else.

Sorry for the lack of action, but this chapter is supposed to show how Tenten and Naruto are going to help eachother improve as time goes on. The Finals start either next chapter or the one after, depending on if I throw in a side mission that's been bouncing around in my head. Now, I'm sure some of you are going to ask me if Naruto's going to learn the Hiraishin. Here's the answer...(Garbled). That answer your question? No? Well, I guess you'll just have to read and find out now won't you? Oh yeah, just a reminder, I know that the Yondaime's name is Minato, but I prefer Arashi. It just sounds better to me.

**Glossary:**

**Suiton: Mizu Bunshin (Water Style: Water Clone Skill/Technique): **A weaker version of the Kage Bunshin. Like Naruto says, it has a limited range, only able to go so far from the original before disintigrating. I think the distance varies with the user. Zabuza's were probably only able to go as far as they did in the anime, while Kisame's seem able to go quite the distance. The Bunshin also needs a source of water to be created from. (Unless you happen to be a powerhouse like Kisame or the Nidaime Hokage).


	14. All Drugged Up

Disclaimer: Ayame and Sasame are mine. The plot is mine. The rest of it isn't.

Last time: Tenten and Naruto get to training.

This time: Let the exams begin.

* * *

In the following weeks, Naruto and Tenten fell into a sort of routine. First Naruto would work with Tenten on her jutsu until they took a break for lunch, then following that, Tenten would work with Naruto on his taijutsu and kenjutsu.

In close to two weeks, Tenten mastered the Kage Bunshin and Naruto's kenjutsu had risen to a point where Tenten began focusing less and less on it and more and more on Naruto's taijutsu. From mastering the Shadow Clone, Naruto began working with his kunoichi partner on her amount of chakra, forcing her to do the technique over and over until she could barely move then waiting for her to recover before doing it all over again.

Following that, Naruto branched off into other jutsu, teaching the weapons mistress other Styles like Katon and Doton. At the same time, he started her in on Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu and that proved to be more difficult for the kunoichi, even considering the natural she seemed to be at using water techniques.

Naruto, on the other hand, was still struggling to release even the first gate, meditating every night, just before going to bed, and throwing everything from his mental 'body' to Kyuubi's youki at the massive door, but to no avail. The chain remained firmly affixed to the door and didn't even sway, not even when Naruto hammered it with the equivalent of four tails.

Soon, the two blended their training, going into all out spars that would drive them both to exhaustion. At first, Naruto came out on top time and time again, but Tenten began to catch up, becoming rather inventive in what she did with her Shadow Clones, and Naruto was forced to use every strategy he could think of (and a few new ones too) in order to stay a step ahead. It wasn't until they were beating on each other that there was a first training accident because Naruto, going beyond his limits again, slipped in his sword defense and didn't react quick enough, the result being Tenten's katana slipping under his guard and slicing deep into his stomach.

She'd been horrified and apologized profusely as Naruto lay bleeding on the rocky shore of the river. Before Tenten had been able to gather her wits and go for a medic, the wound had closed and Naruto had washed his shirt and stomach off in the icy water, shocking his partner to no end when he'd turned around and there'd been no sign of a wound, besides a thin red line of irritated and raw skin.

Convinced that the super healing been a freak coincidence or a one-time deal, something Naruto 'forgot' to correct, Tenten had gone to the hospital and requested a medic-nin to oversee the training matches. Sakura had been the one who'd volunteered and she would sit on the rocks watching the pair go back and forth, berating Naruto when he would go past his limits and almost pass out, a condition not helped by the fact that the pink-haired medic had a tendency to throttle the blond shinobi as she was berating him.

About two weeks before the Third Exam was to start, Tenten had discovered a surprising quality about Naruto's seemingly ordinary katana. He'd backed her into a corner against a huge rock and swung hard, Tenten jumping up over the swing. She'd expected the sword blade to crash against the hard granite, but it'd passed right through, not hindered in the least by the unforgiving boulder. After the slash, there'd been a second or two delay and the top half of the rock had simply sheared right off.

Naruto had explained afterwards that his sword was made of a metal that was easy to channel chakra through, resulting in an enhanced edge. Even more surprising was that he would alter the chakra's nature to become his affinity, and since wind chakra was built for slashing and cutting, the blade would become razor sharp and wickedly resistant.

The blond had said that the sword was a gift from an elderly retired shinobi that he'd helped out and the old man had given Naruto the sword in gratitude. The Yondaime's son had aptly named it 'Kazekiri' or Wind Edge after he'd discovered the hidden attributes of the blade.

As for the shinobi themselves, they became rather good friends as time went on, comfortable enough with each other that they didn't think of going out to lunch together as a date or anything, though Tenten would blush fiercely when they worked on grappling techniques, but Naruto never noticed as he was thick headed when it came to women in general and he was more intent on getting the technique down anyway.

* * *

The week before the Third Exam, Naruto began progressively lightening the load he placed on himself, until the day before the exam was to begin, he told Tenten not to even show up because he was going to take the day off and recuperate after beating the crap out of each other for close to a month.

"We're still going to train with each other, right?" Tenten asked, hoping that Naruto would keep training with her even after she'd come so far.

Naruto looked at her like she'd grown a second head. "Are you crazy? Why would I quit?"

Tenten blinked owlishly then smiled. "Sorry, never mind."

The blond shinobi stared a moment later then shrugged and swung his discarded cloak onto his shoulders and headed for the village, talking easily with his partner about what they'd worked on so far and what they were going to do after the Exams were over.

Soon enough, they arrived at the intersection where they usually went their separate ways.

"Well, Naruto, good luck at the Exam," Tenten said, extending her hand with a smile.

"Sure, thanks Tenten-chan," Naruto answered, taking her offered hand with a firm grip and a radiant fox-grin. "You coming to the exams?"

The kunoichi nodded. "Yeah, wouldn't miss it, plus Gai-sensei is making us because he wants to see the 'brilliant displays of the Fire of Youth!'" The last was said with a pompous tone as Tenten make fun of her exuberant sensei.

"Cool. See you there, Tenten-chan." Naruto turned and headed off the road in a swirl of dark cloth.

"Bye, Naruto!" The weapons mistress called, not noticing the glares that she drew from some of the civilians passing by.

Naruto's day off was mostly spent at Tsunade's, sleeping, eating a meal or two that wasn't ramen (at the fox's instance) and researching other jutsu for him to learn and, eventually, pass on to Tenten. Shizune, who had the day off from the hospital, remarked about his diligence with the scrolls he'd gotten from the library after lunch, to which Naruto replied that it was mostly to keep him sane from worrying about whether or not Moegi and Konohamaru were ready for their duels with the Twins.

Shizune had just smiled. "Do what you have to, Naruto-kun," she'd said.

"Always do," Naruto replied distractedly. The black-haired medic had just laughed before returning to the various housekeeping tasks. That day passed fast and before the blond was ready, the sun had been down for an hour or two and Tsunade had returned from her day at the Tower. Turns out she and Naruto thought alike and had given Konohamaru the day off, and the Hokage had decided to shove her copious amount of paperwork off on her aides.

* * *

Naruto hit the hay early and almost before he registered that he was asleep, Shizune was shaking him awake and saying that he had to get to the arena. The blond genin grumbled, not being much of a morning person anyway, much less wanting to go to an exam with two psycho bitches who wouldn't rest until he was dead.

Never the less, in no time, Naruto's cloak was billowing as he bounded across rooftops and sprinted down power lines on his way to the arena where just a couple of months before, he and the Godaime Hokage had beat the living crap out of each other.

The blond touched down in front of the gate and the two chuunin nodded to him and stepped aside, letting him pass.

"Naruto-aniki!"

Naruto couldn't help but grin when Konohamaru waved him over to stand next to him and Moegi. The Takeda brothers were scowling at the world in general and the Kusajishi sisters were just standing around.

"Nervous, Konohamaru?" The blond asked. The young shinobi would be the first to face the Twins.

The Honorable Grandson gulped. "A little, but I think the Old Lady's training will help a lot."

"So does this mean that you're freakishly strong like Sakura-chan?"

"No. I really don't have the chakra control for it."

"So then…"

Genma interrupted. "Alright, quiet over there. The Kages are watching."

Naruto glanced up and saw Baa-chan in her ceremonial robes, and a man with a leathery face and gray eyes dressed in dark blue robes. That was obviously the Mizukage. But there was a surprise on Tsunade's right.

That Kage was dressed in teal robes and hat with matching eyes and an angry looking scowl.

"GAARA!!"

The Godaime Kazekage scowled even more deeply, but not before Naruto caught a brief upturn in the former Jinchuuriki's mouth before it downturned.

"What the hell's he doing here?" Konohamaru asked out of the corner of his mouth.

"The hell if I know," Naruto answered.

Moegi slapped her forehead. "You idiot, Naruto-aniki. Kazekage-sama is obviously here to see you." She looked at him skeptically. "Aren't you two friends or something?"

The blond grinned sheepishly. "Whoops. Guess that didn't cross my mind."

Konohamaru shook his head. "Geeze. You're a good shinobi and all, Naruto-aniki but you're still thick headed."

"Watch it twerp. I'll kick your ass in the finals."

An annoyed Tsunade cut them off. "Are you two idiots _quite_ done!?" The Hokage was on her feet and her arms were crossed, glaring hard down at the pair with her patented 'I'm gonna kill you!' glare. Quelled, the two genin shut up. Then the Hokage spread her arms wide and shouted to the stadium, "Welcome to the final portion of the Chuunin Exams!" A roar went up among the assembled people of Konoha. "Well, without further delay, let the tournament _begin!_"

Another roar went up from the people and Genma turned to the candidates. "Alright, listen up, the rules are simple. There are no rules. Fight until one of you can't continue or dies. I will step into stop the match before death occurs, but I'm not making any guarantees. Good luck." He raised his voice. "First match! Kusajishi Ayame vs. Takeda Yosuke!" More cheers. Genma looked almost bored. "Everyone else, to the booth."

The shinobi trooped up the stairs and took their place in the booth that was set into the wall below the spectator stands.

Ayame and her opponent stayed below on the arena floor, approaching one another until they were within an arm's length of each other.

Takeda Yosuke was a lanky beanpole, like his brothers, with hard brown eyes and long shaggy brown hair that hung to his shoulders. He stood with the casual arrogance of a shinobi who knew his arts and how to use them. Naruto wouldn't have been surprised to know that Yosuke was a prodigy like Neji or Shikamaru.

Genma, trademark senbon sticking out in his mouth, stepped up and looked from the smiling kunoichi to the frowning genin. The Hokage had told him about the Kusajishi Twins and to be careful about stopping a match, particularly the ones between the Twins and Naruto. As he raised his hand to begin, he realized that the Hokage and Council didn't pay him nearly enough to put up with this shit.

"First match…" The atmosphere in the stadium sharpened perceptibly as the crowd sat forward on the edge of their seats, waiting for the match to…

"Begin!"

Genma bounced back to get to cover and whatever scant protection it provided for him.

Yosuke whipped out a kunai faster than the eye could track and hurled it at Ayame in the same motion. The kunoichi smirked confidently as her fingers whispered across the seals on her wrists. Kyuubi had been correct when he'd said that Ayame's seals drew off of a stash. The seals were linked to a second set of seals that were inscribed into two huge bins back in the Twins' village. By changing the way her chakra flowed when she activated the seals, she could draw different weapons from the bins, providing the weapons were layered a certain way. That was why she was so bitchy when it came to how the weapons were layered. If they were set up wrong, she could get a kunai when she needed shuriken, and that could cost her her life.

Kunai appeared in her hands and the blue-clad kunoichi let one fly and held the other one, charging at Yosuke with as much speed as she could muster. The Takeda was surprised to say the least when his kunai was deflected with a shower of sparks and Ayame hurtled at him with fire burning in her red eyes.

The Mist shinobi leapt back, to gain distance and his hands began flashing through hand-seals, before the shinobi reared back and shouted, "**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu**," then spewed a raging fireball that scorched the ground as it traveled.

* * *

Up in the contestant's box, Naruto's eyes narrowed.

"Odd," he murmured to no one.

"Naruto-aniki?" Konohamaru asked, but Naruto didn't seem to hear him. The blond shinobi was watching the battle below with a dangerous and calculating look on his face. The kid was unnerved. He'd never seen _that_ particular expression. "What's wrong?"

The look didn't vanish. "He used a Katon jutsu…Kind of odd for a Kiri-nin."

Scoffing from their right met the Konoha shinobi's ears.

"Whatever, bastard." It was Takeda Kanryu. "If you think that the Takeda brothers just use Suiton jutsu, you've got another thing coming." His voice was reedy and high, thick with a holier-than-thou tone that Naruto had become accustomed to hearing in Sasuke, Neji, and Hiashi's voices.

The shinobi backed up when the blond genin sent a heated look his way. The Takeda gulped and shut up. Something told him that the tall, cloaked nin was not to be trifled with. If anyone found Naruto's change in demeanor strange, then they'd never seen him when he'd been away from the village. The Sound missing-nin had been famous for his cold shoulder, something which tended to come out when Naruto went in to combat these days.

* * *

Down below, Ayame _jumped_ and cleared the fireball, swiping her seals again and let loose a barrage of shuriken that arced for the ground and hurtled at the Takeda brother.

The deadly missiles struck and the shinobi collapsed in a shower of blood.

Ayame smirked as she landed, but that confidence lasted only a few moments as the corpse of the Mist shinobi burst into smoke and cleared to reveal a shuriken-studded log, no sign of the kunoichi's target anywhere in the stadium.

Then she blinked. "Oh please," she muttered, swiping a seal and hurling a tagged kunai into the tree behind her. The tag detonated with a massive explosion and reduced the tree to splinters and ash, a figure bursting from the cloud of smoke and coming straight for her. Ayame huffed and decided that it was time to stop holding back.

Yosuke blinked and Kusajishi Ayame was gone.

"What!?" He skidded to a stop and looked around, but there was not a sign of Ayame near him and he couldn't sense her either.

He cried out as pain lanced up his left leg and he looked down to see a hand protruding from the ground behind him, a kunai firmly lodged in his calf. He screamed again as the kunai twisted, making blood spray, and then was wrenched sideways, tearing out the side of his leg then slashed across his right leg and rending skin and muscle there as well.

The injuries dropped him to his knees. There was a cracking noise and another hand lanced out and drove a kunai deep into the Kiri-nin's throat, once again spraying blood, life-blood this time, all over the ground.

Takeda Yosuke slumped, making a pathetic gurgling noise in the back of his throat as he watched with rapidly darkening vision as _two_ Ayames emerged from the splintered dirt and rock.

'Shadow Clones,' he realized with fading thoughts. 'She used speed to get to cover, then made shadow clones to attack with and went underground.' From there, it was a simple matter to follow the violent vibrations from his feet to the source and immobilize him with the slash to the calves, then lay his throat open.

Ayame's voice came to him from across a great distance, a smug note clear in her voice. "Sorry, but you lose this one."

Everything went black.

The crowd was silent for a moment at the death of the Takeda brother then muted mutterings broke out among the population. It was not the ending they'd hoped for, and Genma had been just as caught off guard as Yosuke, and so had not had the time to stop the fatal strike.

The senbon-chewing shinobi shrugged then announced to the stadium, "Winner, Kusajishi Ayame!"

Up in the booth for the candidates, there was a stunned silence, except for Sasame cheering her sister on for her victory.

The two remaining Takeda brothers were muttering sullenly to each other and Moegi and Konohamaru were just stunned. Only Naruto was making any sort of real movement and that was only the clenching and unclenching of his fist, barely visible through the part in his cloak.

The voice of the jounin proctor below brought them out of the paralysis that the gruesome victory had cast. "Next match! Moegi vs. Takeda Kanryu!"

The crowd also seemed to be relieved of the silence, bursting into cheers again as the masked Takeda and Moegi took their places and got ready to go.

"Begin!"

Neither fighter moved.

Moegi was watching her opponent like a hawk. Kakashi had known that, without the Sharingan, what he could teach the kunoichi was limited, but that hadn't stopped the lazy jounin. He'd taught her strategy and tactics, and, after discovering that the genin's chakra control rivaled Sakura's, had taught her some jutsu that required a bit more finesse that what he would've taught, say, Naruto before his little stint as a missing-nin.

It hadn't been the grueling beat down-style training that Naruto and Konohamaru had gone through, but she was stronger than she had been a month ago.

"Give up, Chibi."

Moegi blinked at Kanryu's abrupt break into speech.

"What?"

The Takeda's sneer was visible, even through his mask. "You can't beat me. A kid like you in the exams? Give me a break. Are Konoha's jounin really that stupid?"

Moegi didn't answer, falling back on Kakashi's training.

'He said to not rise to the taunts of your enemies. Take you time, keep your cool, and the weaknesses of your enemies will become clear.' She reminded herself. It wouldn't do to succumb to the flaws that Konohamaru and Naruto had, which was their lightning-quick tempers. Never did they rage against their friends, but it didn't take much to set them off. That made some of their battles harder than they needed to be.

Kanryu kept on talking, but Moegi wasn't listening, she was looking for flaws in his posture, flickers in his eyes, a twitch of a muscle, anything that could expose a weakness she could take advantage of.

It didn't take long for her to find one.

Takeda's weight was farther back on one leg than it should've been, which meant that if she should rush in, he'd be able to jump back faster and shower her with shuriken when her attack over extended. By contrast, should she rush and Takeda choose to block, which considering that he looked to be the type that looked down on 'weaker' opponents was probably the most likely, it would take a second to transfer his weight forward and get enough behind the block to stop the hit cold. The variables were many, and multiplying by the second.

To cut down on the possibilities, she would need to distract him. Her hand dipped into her kunai pouch and hurled one of the knives there at the masked man, who bounced back and away.

Moegi put chakra into her feet and shot forward, seeming to skim over the ground for a second before she darted into the air, streaking for the falling genin like a bullet. Now that Takeda's feet were off the ground, he wasn't able to brace against her and that would be his downfall.

The masked man's eyes widened in alarm as he found himself staring up at the Konoha kunoichi who was in his face, fist drawn for an attack.

Her fist collided with the thud of bone on bone.

Kanryu burst into a plume of smoke.

Moegi's face showed her surprise at the sudden twist of fate. Before she could do anything but register she'd been had, she yelled in sudden pain as a senbon flew from the trees and bushes ringing the center of the stadium and lodged right over her shoulder blade, going deep enough that she felt it dig into bone a little. The warm feeling of blood followed an instant later, causing the kunoichi's top to stick to her.

The kunoichi didn't waste time in pulling it out, hoping against hope that the weapon wasn't poisoned.

"Pay attention, little girl," the Kiri-nin admonished with a jeering tone. It was clear that he wasn't taking this match seriously, seeing a teenage girl as a minor threat at best. "I don't want to kill you any faster than I have to."

So that was his game? He was going to taunt and humiliate her until she couldn't take it anymore and then he'd take his dear sweet time killing her. Well, Moegi wasn't just going to sit around and let that happen.

Despite the wound in her shoulder, it didn't hamper her movement, so the genin drew two kunai and waited. Sure enough, Kanryu didn't hesitate before charging in at full steam and lunging with a vicious war cry, dark eyes wide with a light that made him seem insane and angry at the same time.

'Remember your lessons,' Moegi told herself again. Kakashi, not knowing Ayame's style of fighting, had covered a little of everything, from basics to advanced jutsu, trying to show her how to find all the little tricks that made an attack tick. 'A lunge is a straight forward attack and it has a high probablility of overextending if the attacker missed.'

Her feet moved, taking her to the outside and facing the shinobi, the knife that he'd drawn to bury in her rib sailing harmlessly past, her own hand once again dipping into her pouch to seize a knife of her own and drive it into the passing man's ribs, the keen blade passing between the ribs with no problem.

Kanryu once again exploded into smoke.

"Another Kage Bunshin!" This time, Moegi was ready for the follow-up and bounced out of the way, the quick flash of a senbon lodging in the soil. If the kunoichi hadn't moved when she did, it would've probably struck in her Achilles tendon and immobilized her. However, Takeda made one critical mistake.

Moegi saw the leaves rustle as needle left its owner's hand.

Thankfully, she'd managed to keep her kunai, so she twisted and hurled it at the brief rustle. There was a whisper of feet over dead leaves and the teen caught a flash of movement. No wonder this guy was in the Chuunin Exams, his stealth skills were good, but someone like Naruto-aniki or that crazy lady Ayame would be able to shred him, hell, any chuunin worth their rank would be able to do it.

The was a sharp 'clang' and a shower of sparks. The movement stopped and Moegi held her breath. Did the guy stop? Would he be caught in the…

**BOOM!**

Explosion from the tag she'd slipped around the hilt of the knife at the last second.

Shrapnel in the form of wood splinters and burning embers from immolated leaves and bark rained down on Moegi and Genma, but neither moved, not even when peppered with bits of the burning debris or pricked by slivers of flying wood. They were both waiting for Takeda to emerge.

And the wait wasn't a short one.

There was an abrupt drop in visiblility as a sudden mist sprang up out of nowhere and quickly obscured the battlefield to all but the most experienced jounin and other elite shinobi. For a moment, Tenten, in the crowd, wondered where the water from the jutsu had come from.

Neji had the answer, chakra coils leading to his eyes bulging with the chakra needed to sustain his Byakugan. And the deeper-than-normal scowl indicated that what he saw was both puzzling and probably bad news for Moegi down on the floor of the stadium.

"His chakra network is out of control."

Lee and Gai, before now paying attention only to the match, now looked at the Hyuuga jounin.

"What do you mean, Neji-kun?" Gai asked, clearly interested.

"I've been tracking him with the Byakugan this whole time," Neji elaborated. "I want to make sure I know what to look for if we ever go to war with them. Just now, he pulled something out of a pouch and took a sniff." The pale Kekkei Genkai empowered eyes narrowed. "Then his inner coils went haywire. I don't think even Naruto could match it."

Tenten blinked. She probably knew better than anyone the sheer amount of raw _power_ the blond possessed. The kunoichi glanced over at Naruto, visible in the box from his brilliant hair and cloaked figure, and saw his normally shining blue eyes were currently just as cold and calculating as Neji's. "How is that possible?" She asked. During training, she'd seen Naruto make close to a hundred shadow clones, fight her, then show her an B or A-ranked jutsu without even blinking.

She, by contrast, could only manage about twenty Kage Bunshin at any given time, up from an initial nine or ten, and she wouldn't even consider using an A-ranked jutsu whilst using the Shadow Clone Technique or just after it.

Neji flicked a quick look at her, but Tenten knew he still saw every detail on that field. One of the perks of nearly three-sixty degree vision. "I don't know, Tenten." His gaze _snapped_, not over to the field, but to Naruto, who's mouth was moving, probably explaining to the situation to Konohamaru.

Sure enough, that's what he was doing.

Naruto, having been studying up on the various Suiton jutsu out there, was just as puzzled as Tenten at first, wondering how this was possible, when only chakra freaks like Hoshigaki Kisame, or a Kage like the Nidaime could create water jutsu without a source.

'How'd he do it? That Takeda guy isn't anything special.' Abruptly, his nose sharpened, allowing him to smell everything from the acrid stench of the still-burning tree to the various perfumes and colognes of the spectator and contestants. Kyuubi had sent a burst of youki to his nose, sharpening the organ to many times the sensitivity of a dog's.

Borne on the wind, heavily diluted by the water in the mist, was a sickly sweet scent that Naruto had never smelt before. It was so pungent that the blonde's head seemed to swoon just from catching a whiff.

'The hell is that?'

'**Chakra enhancement drugs,'** Kyuubi grunted simply, swishing a tail.

'Chakra what now?'

'**Just what I said, brat,'** the massive fox replied irritably. **'It's been a while since I've run into that crap.'**

'You know what it is?'

'**I'm a demon hundreds of years old, you idiot. I've been around the block a couple times, and seen plenty.'**

'Well, don't keep me in suspense, furball. What's it do?'

'**Exactly what the name implies. I suppose it could be compared to soldier pills or that water in the Waterfall village, except that this is many many _many_ times more potent. I'm pretty sure it's made by taking the ingredients for a soldier pill and then concentrating them, along with a few additives to further boost the effect.' **Kyuubi's upper lip curled. **'This guy's an idiot. That crap's hard to make at the best of times, and it's extremely addictive to boot. I was under the impression that all the villages outlawed it close to a hundred and fifty years ago.'**

Naruto blinked, then turned all business again. 'Withdrawl symptoms?'

'**Many, varied, and not at all pleasant. They range from vomiting blood all the way up to death. The ones that leave you alive get worse the longer you use it, until you can't go for more than a couple hours without a dose of a couple ounces and even that worsens the withdrawal until there's nothing left for you but death.'**

'Cure?'

'**None, aside from maybe being a Jinchuuriki or having a fantastic Bloodline or a stubborn iron will.'**

'Well, two out of three isn't bad.' Naruto found himself pinned under a massive claw and a snarling demon maw inches from his face.

'**You put that shit inside us and I _will_ eat you, deal or no deal.'**

'Relax you bastard!' Naruto yelled at the snarling kitsune. 'Think about it! Would I do that!?' The claw released him.

'**No. But don't even joke. I've seen the deaths.' **The Nine-Tailed Fox _shuddered_. **'It's not anything I'd wish on anyone.'** Both knew that was saying something, seeing as what the fox was.

Naruto turned to a more serious topic. 'What's this mean for Moegi-chan?'

His partner was silent for a moment. **'Hard to say. The effect will be a massive boost in her opponent's chakra. The time is another matter. For some reason, the duration increases with use. No one knows why, or cares since it's outlawed.'**

'So to make it simple, it means big trouble.' Kyuubi's silence was all the answer the blond needed. That was when Konohamaru asked what was going on and the blond proceeded to explain.

"Chakra enhancing drugs?" Neji repeated as he watched Naruto continue to explain to the Sandaime's grandson. The Hyuuga barely heard Tenten's question about what he was talking about, but when he had a fair idea, he began explaining.

Meanwhile, in the pea soup that was hanging over the arena, Moegi was looking around with a tense alertness coursing through her. She could just barely feel Kanryu's chakra ghosting at the edge of her perception with a deadly caress that sent shivers down her spine. There was just one problem.

She didn't know how to sense chakra yet.

In order for her to be able sense him when she shouldn't know how to yet, the man had to have a massive amount, chakra so high that is was almost inhumane.

This battle was about to get a lot more interesting and she had to be ready.

Moegi's hands began flashing from seal to seal. She'd show this Kakashi-knockoff that she wasn't to be taken lightly.

Well, that's that. Sorry if the Ayame battle was lame, but don't forget, she's able to go against Naruto and hold her own, and Naruto, even without Kyuubi, is about as strong as an ANBU captain or a Kage. So what chance would a genin have against her when she fought seriously? Moegi's battle is hopefully going to be more interesting, and Konohamaru's battle with Sasame is going to get its start probably next chapter, then it's all downhill from there as Naruto takes on his main antagonists (or antagonist, you never know). Anyway, look forward to the next chapter, review, y'know the drill. No glossary this time, unless you really need an explanation of the Hidden Mist Technique.


	15. Comedown

Disclaimer: You know the drill.

Last time: Moegi's opponent, Takeda Kanryu, takes a drug that boosts his chakra output by a _lot_.

This time: How Moegi deals with the boost.

* * *

As Moegi prepared her jutsu, her opponent was lost in the rush and euphoria of the sheer amount of chakra he was putting out. It rushed down his coils and made everything seem to stand out, from the sounds of a murmuring crowd, to the taste and feel of the moisture in the air from his mist jutsu. If he had a mirror, he might've been appalled at the insane light in his eyes, pupils wide and dark, the skin of his face and the fabric of his mask seeming to cling to his bones, the shadows throwing those ridges and valleys into even sharper relief.

Kanryu's own ragged breathing filled his ears as he soared ever higher on a drug-induced rush. Finally, the feeling broke through and he began to laugh, a harsh and mirthless sound that filled the air, made even creepier by the mist that filled the arena floor, and even reached into the stands, sending gauzy fingers through the aisles of spectators. The candidates box was just as filled as the rest of the arena.

* * *

Naruto heard the laughing and scowled, cerulean eyes flicking from side to side, scanning for a sign of Kanryu. He'd spotted a ripple in the mist earlier and knew it was Moegi. She was up to something, that much was obvious, because her chakra was beginning to flow and fluctuate, weaving an insidious web throughout the stadium. The blond genin smirked. He knew that feeling.

It was genjutsu.

Moegi was weaving an illusion throughout the arena, hoping to snare Kanryu in it. It was a good plan and would most likely work. Just because Naruto was able to sense it didn't mean some one else would be able to pick it up. The blond was willing to bet she would hook her prey, but whether or not it would hold was up for debate.

Genjutsu worked by fooling the five senses of the victim into literally living something that's not happening. To do that, the user of the jutsu had to send a tendril of their own chakra, either through hand seals, or for people like Itachi, a bloodline and an extreme affinity for the field. The traitor Uchiha was able to cast genjutsu just by pointing or looking at you. Which made him a bitch to fight. Once the user's chakra was in the victim's system, it would subtly fiddle with and manipulate the host's chakra in ways that couldn't be detected until it was too late.

With the host chakra manipulated, the caster's chakra would then rearrange the victim's chakra until the sensory organs, touch, taste, sight, smell, and hearing's nerves were cut off and then the chakra would turn into electrical impulses to fool the brain into seeing something it's not. It was a field that required fine chakra control and an exact knowledge of what to project. It was rumored that the jounin and ANBU genjutsu specialists underwent a training regimen where they would have genjutsu cast on them, if only to teach them how to fight it, look for flaws in the illusions, and what the illusions were supposed to look like. It was a good system and it worked well, Konoha's genjutsu specialists were some of the foremost in the entire shinobi world, widely regarded masters of their area.

With that said, the big problem that Naruto saw with Moegi's plan was that Kanryu's chakra was now more like a torrential waterfall than the calm river chakra usually was. It was turbulent enough that Moegi's chakra might just be drowned out and rendered null simply from the speed and force with which Takeda's chakra was moving.

* * *

Moegi smiled to herself as she finished her genjutsu and found Kanryu, then sent her chakra speeding for him. She felt a surge as her chakra entered the man, then she was slammed, as if by a giant fist, hard enough to make her actually stagger. The feeling of being connected vanished shortly after and the kunoichi realized that her attempt at genjutsu had been thwarted by the sheer turbulence of the other man's chakra.

Genjutsu would be worthless, just because of whatever Kanryu had done to himself. The teen scowled. Looks like she was in this for the long haul, there would be no simple solution. Well it looked as if there was one bright side to all of this, with so much chakra in his system, it would be nigh impossible to hide his chakra with any degree of success. Only if he was used to that huge amount, like Naruto or Hokage-sama was, would he be able to hide it, and Moegi was willing to bet that Kanryu had used some kind of enhancer, like solider pills, and he wasn't used to his great amount. Takeda's insane laughter also helped to pinpoint him.

"Well, here goes," Moegi muttered as she pulled out a volley of shuriken and kunai, holding the weapons up to throw. She turned to the laughing and let fly.

Kanryu felt the feeble attempt to place him under an illusion, and just snickered to himself, sending a surge through his coils to burn out the invading chakra. The girl would need to be more savvy than that to catch him!

He focused chakra into his feet and _moved_, getting behind the girl, by luck saving his skin from getting impaled on a hail of pointed weapons that she'd released just as he'd moved.

Moegi heard the dull clunking of her weapons hitting the trees and swore softly. She'd missed.

"What's wrong, girly?" A voice whispered in her ear, making her jump. It was Takeda. "You didn't hit what you were aiming for?" Her hand dipped into her kunai holster, brushing aside the snap cover and swiping the ring of the handle in one smooth motion then stabbed backwards, hoping to catch the bastard in the stomach.

No such luck, the warmth that had been pressed against her cheek from his simple proximity vanished just as her kunai whispered clear of the sheath. Now he was back out in the mist again, hiding, circling, and probably plotting his next move. Her hands began flying together again, going for another technique that would hopefully help with this mist.

"**Katon! Housenka no Jutsu!**"

A swarm of mini fireballs spewed from her mouth and zipped into the murk, covering the entire area as she turned, not letting up, and spit fire in every direction, though it did nothing to dissipate the mist.

Kanryu's eyes widened as he saw the swarm of fiery balls speeding for him at great speed, but he gritted his teeth and began bouncing from spot to spot, dodging the fire as the need demanded. He scowled angrily. This little bitch would have to learn her place. And _he_ was the one to do the teaching.

His eyes lit maliciously again as he began making seals. Ordinarily, he wouldn't even bother with this technique, but with his chakra, it wouldn't matter.

"**Suiton! Suiryuudan no Jutsu!**"

From nowhere, water burst into existence. Well, not from nowhere, that would defy physics. What Kanryu had done was convert some moisture in the air, and some of his own chakra, into water. Usually, it took someone with immense control and a huge amount of chakra to do it, but with his sheer amount, it was child's play. The water shaped into a serpentine dragon, then sped into the mist. Even without a direct hit, it would flood to a decent depth and open the way for other techniques.

Once the dragon was on the way, he wavered on his feet, just before the chakra surged again and filled him with that intense euphoria again. It always happened, but the drug took care of the drain pretty quickly.

Both Genma and Moegi were surprised when a huge watery dragon with evil yellow eyes lunged out of the mist. The two shinobi jumped, clearing any potential damage, allowing the dragon to expend itself and flood the earthen floor with five feet of water. Thankfully, Kakashi had taught her to walk on water, so she alighted on the surface just in time to feel the decrease in Kanryu's chakra.

"Huh?" She murmured to herself. "That's odd. He just lost a lot of chakra. Well, it's a big technique, but still…" The kunoichi couldn't help but think that something was odd. It didn't seem natural to her for some reason, but then that chakra boost wasn't natural either, unless it was some kind of weird bloodline, but somehow Moegi doubted it.

A storm of kunai whistled out of the mist and Moegi jerked before somersaulting back onto the wall of the arena. She scowled into the heavy mist. There had to be _something_ she could do about this damn vapor, but it would involve either a strong wind, or an intense blast of fire. Neither of which she knew or had the chakra for.

Then she stopped and smiled. Maybe that would work. It was a long shot to be sure, but then, didn't Naruto-aniki take long shots all the time and get them to work? That's what he was known for. There was no reason it wouldn't work for her to.

Another volley of weapons shot from the murk.

Moegi hurled herself at the water, some ten feet below, landed, then began running across the surface until a shadow shot for her. The kunoichi didn't hesitate and flung a kunai at the shadow, which promptly burst into a spray of water, showing it to be a Mizu Bunshin. Again, there was a drop in her opponent's chakra, but Moegi didn't pay attention to it due to a follow-up kunai that sped for her head. She rolled, got her hands beneath her and sprang into the air like a gymnast, and then she was sticking to the wall again, but this time on the other side of the stadium, bracing her stance with one hand.

A smile crossed her face for a moment before she reached into her kunai holster and flung a knife at the source of chakra. It moved and she was off, speeding across the water as fast as her legs could carry her, angling to cut him off. From one hand flew a trio of shuriken, and in the other was a kunai, held in reverse, ready in front of her to slice the man into sashimi.

The shadow she was running towards sharpened into the Takeda brother, his hand already moving, hurling a trio of shuriken that he'd been holding. As Moegi vaulted over them and arced with her kunai leading, she had a sneaking suspicion that those shuriken were hers.

Her hand flashed, but she wasn't fast enough and the Kiri-nin's hand caught her wrist and flung her away. Moegi had been semi-expecting that though, and got her feet under her, slamming into the wall again in a crouch, a hand slapping the wall in frustration. This guy wasn't even taking her seriously. She hadn't been able to touch her, and he had yet to truly attack.

"What's the matter, girly?" A sinister voice asked from behind her. She blinked and whirled, seeing Kanryu standing on the wall behind her without a care in the world, hands casually in his pockets, looking more like a Kakashi knockoff than ever before. "Getting a little angry are we?"

The Konoha-nin tensed a little then lunged, but was knocked away by a casual crescent kick, flying away, bouncing off the top of a submerged bush, then skipping across the surface of the water, raising small geysers with every bounce. She got her feet under her after the fifth bounce and skidded to a stop, baring her teeth at the menace hidden from her view.

The water at her feet bubbled and frothed madly then exploded, Moegi just managing get clear in time, skidding backwards up the wall, dragging a hand, like she'd been doing for a while now, then managing to stop.

Kanryu climbed out of the water like he was climbing a staircase and stared up at the kunoichi with a hungry gaze, tinged by a slight shine of insanity.

"What's wrong with girly? Can't keep up?" He said with a mask-warping grin.

Moegi smiled back. "Nope. I just needed a way to keep you busy."

"What do you mean?" He asked, with a hint of violent menace in his voice.

The red-clad kunoichi's hands flashed together and stopped on Ram. "I'm just clearing the mist." She leaped, right as an explosion touched off behind her, the blast wave knocking over Takeda and extending her leap by a good amount. She skidded over the water and stood up, as Kanryu tugged himself upright with a livid expression.

* * *

Naruto blinked and picked himself off the floor, where he'd been thrown when explosions had rocked the stadium and knocked him flat on his back, feet over his head and ass in the air.

'**Graceful.'**

'Shut up fox.' He stood up and looked out the front of the contestants box. The flooded arena was clearly visible, the last whisps of mist dissipating, along with the rain of cement wall fragments and the smoke. 'What happened?'

Below, Kanryu demanded that exact same thing.

* * *

Moegi grinned. "Easy, all that time I spent on the wall was part of my plan."

"What plan!?"

"Oh nothing much, I just set explosive tags all around the arena and used the flame and shockwaves from the explosions to get rid of you Kirigakure no Jutsu."

The kunoichi could literally hear the other shinobi gnashing his teeth at her in anger.

"Little…_bitch_!" He managed to grind out. His hands blurred together and the water beneath him began to writhe again before it exploded upwards and took on the form of another water dragon. That was when Moegi knew that this guy had more chakra than he knew what to do with. He'd used two dragons in a row and didn't show any sign of strain.

The technique lunged for her, but Moegi vaulted up and over, hurling a kunai into the serpentine construct as it twisted around and came for her again, maw opening wide, showing her watery fangs, just before the kunai that was still sinking through its body exploded and blew the dragon in half, drenching Kanryu and succeeding in making him even angrier, a feeling that was amplified by the drugs coursing through his system.

"Alright, little girly," he growled. "No more mister nice guy!"

The Konoha kunoichi just snorted at the old cliché phrase, right before Kanryu simply vanished. Before she time to do more than blink at the sudden disappearing act, a fist slammed hard into her gut, making her double over as pain shot up and down her spine and Moegi spit up blood from the force of the hit.

She stumbled backwards and received a vicious backhand that sent her flying in a dizzying spiral off to one side, crashing to the water and beginning to sink, since she was too dazed to even think about channeling chakra.

"Oh no you don't. I'm not letting you off that easy," the masked shinobi said with a vicious grin that was audible in his tone. He reached down and yanked her up by the hair. "You're not done until I say so!"

An uppercut had her floating and a hard left cross into her stomach had Moegi gasping for air, even as she slammed into the hard wall of the stadium. Debris and powdered concrete sprayed outwards from the hole, settling to the water and turning the fluid a murky gray-brown.

Kanryu straightened. He'd put as much chakra and weight into the blow as he could, so much so that his left arm had rivulets of crimson running down it, from where the chakra had ruptured the skin. He scratched the back of his head in a mock gesture of sheepishness. "Aww…too bad. Did I break her?"

Silence filled the ring, with the exception of Konohamaru, who was frantically calling out his girlfriend's name, one leg on the rail of the candidate's box, restrained from jumping into the fray himself only by Naruto's steel grip on his shoulder, though one look at the blond Jinchuuriki's face was enough to kill in and of itself. His eyes, if one looked closely, were even starting to bleed into at dark shade of purple and the pupil had small but defined points on the top and bottom.

* * *

"I guess Takeda over did it a little," The Mizukage said without any real sign of remorse. As the head of Kirigakure, it was no secret of the animosity the Kiri and Konoha harbored for one another, surpassed only by Iwa's hatred for the Leaf. "My sincerest condolences about the loss of your kunoichi, Hokage-sama."

"You underestimate her, Mizukage-sama," Tsunade replied with a tone to match the blue-clad leader's. "Moegi is not to be taken lightly." She turned hard brown eyes on the other Kage. "I have half a mind to have ANBU arrest your genin for the possession and use of an illegal drug."

"But my man falls under my responsibility, not yours." The Mizukage said silkily.

Tsunade got _scary_. "Really? Then you will do the honors and disqualify him?" Her voice was getting to the point that promised trouble. The aides present were all watching the two Kages, and even Gaara was looking sideways at them, his face blank, but eyes showing the racing thoughts in his head.

The Mizukage shrugged. "There's nothing I can do. You see, Hime-sama, the Mist's policy is that you have to have witnesses. I saw nothing to suggest that Takeda-san did anything illegal. Perhaps it is a Kekkei Genkai."

"That's a damn technicality and you know it, Kage-san." She hissed. The other leader's eyebrow arched ever so slightly at the lack of a proper honorific or even a title. It was a slight to his pride as a village leader, but one he could endure. He simply snorted and returned to watching the duel below.

Tsunade almost lunged at the bastard then and there, but knew that would lead to all out war with Kiri, and stopping the match to arrest the genin with his leader present would do the same. He could, and probably would, claim that it was a Kekkei Genkai and that Konoha had deliberately provoked him, leading to a war anyway. No, she would have to play this subtly. The Mizukage seemed to imply that there were other users in Kirigakure.

Perhaps she could find a supply line and expose it to the world? Then Konoha would be justified in attacking, because killing someone while under that drug's influence was considered a first-degree murder in most of the Hidden Villages. And the Leaf would certainly gain new allies in the attack, since most of the other leaders would know that if it was in Kirigakure, then it could be in their territory as well, which, in turn, would lead to inquiries, arrests, and, ultimately, executions.

Tsunade stopped. She couldn't declare war over something so petty. She had to look at the bigger picture, despite her (hidden) affection for Saru-sensei's grandson and his team. Shinobi died all the time, that was a fact of life, and the Mizukage was right when he said there was no substantial evidence since she'd never actually _seen_ the drug's usage. Still, it raised the question. Were there users in Konohagakure as well? It was something she'd have to look into. Konoha's ANBU were in charge of keeping that drug out, but still, while the Black Ops Corps was good at what it did, they were still human, and someone with enough money and resources could fool them.

She couldn't use an ANBU operative, in case there was a drug ring. Maybe she was paranoid, but if there was even one user out there, they wouldn't hesitate to sell out Konoha for another fix. History showed that when the drug was hailed as the next soldier pill, people had told centuries-old secrets for just a few ounces. She would need someone with good connections and could be discreet.

Tsunade smiled. She knew the perfect person for this one.

The Sannin glanced at Gaara and the Mizukage. Both were occupied, but something told the Fire Shadow that Gaara was purposely ignoring her. The Kage's right hand, draped casually on the armrest of her chair, moved and contorted ever so slightly.

No one noticed the ANBU that had been hidden in the shadows of the entrance to the Kage's box vanish without sound or sight of his presence. The silent assassin didn't know why the Kage wanted to see Jiraiya-sama, but it wasn't his place to ask questions.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the arena, Moegi was busy pretending to be lifeless as she tried to think of a way out of this mess. Kanryu had her outclassed in speed, power, and chakra. In a head-on fight, she'd lose in a matter of seconds, and it probably would be her life this time. A memory of her training with Kakashi came back to her.

"_Moegi, this jutsu I'm going to teach you is to be your last resort. Use it only when you have no other recourse left." The kunoichi blinked at the jounin that had decided, out of the blue it seemed, to teach her for the Exams in three weeks._

"_Okay. What is it?"_

"_Watch closely. I don't expect you to master it, or even perfect it, in the time we have left, but I think you need a shocker jutsu and this one should do nicely." Kakashi showed her the technique and she got to work._

The lanky shinobi had been right. It _was_ a bitch of a jutsu to use and even worse to make work, but in the end, she'd gotten to the point where it was feasible, though she was good for only one shot and maybe a pass or two.

The problem was Takeda. He would dodge it, no problem, so she had to be ready to take advantage of whatever opening she created.

"Proctor! She's dead already! Call the match!" Genma just blinked and chewed his senbon a bit more. He could sense Moegi in the hole, but Kanryu couldn't. He wasn't even looking at the hole, busy yelling at the jounin proctor. Kakashi had gotten the girl pretty damn good at concealing her chakra. Even he, a freaking jounin, could barely sense the kunoichi's chakra beginning to move and mold. Well, he didn't like the Mist at all, and, while the rules said that he wasn't allowed to be biased, there was nothing wrong with just _happening_ to create an opening at the right time…

Moegi's heart almost stopped when Genma's movement totally took whatever attention Takeda might have spared her off her and onto the proclamation. What really got her was that Genma was flicking glances in her direction, subtly enough that Takeda missed it, but she, who'd been taught by an instructor who was famous for his 'underneath the underneath' policy, caught rapidly.

The jounin's hand raised. "Winner…"

Her hands moved, finishing the final sequence of seals.

"Takeda…"

She took a deep breath.

"Kanry…"

"**Katon! Karyuu Endan!**" She blew the breath out and a massive flame erupted from her mouth and shaped into a dragon, speeding from the hole she was in and zeroing in on her intended target, the startled and horrified Takeda Kanryu.

He jumped, just clearing a sizzling death, but the dragon, a mammoth thing composed entirely of flame and smoke, turned right before it hit the wall and sped for the other genin, who'd overdone it with his jump and was just now reaching the peak, leaving him wide open.

The Kakashi knockoff twisted at the last possible second and was just barely brushed across his back by the dragon as it lanced past, but it was enough and howls of rage and pain filled the air as the flaming monstrosity scorched him and slammed into the upper rim of the arena's walls, blackening the concrete and charring the lacquered wood rim to a crisp, the embers threatening to light until a group of jounin descended on the site and put it out with water jutsu that both extinguished the chance of fire and siphoned off some water in the process.

Moegi dropped to her knees, feeling herself slowly sinking into the water because of the exhaustion that was flooding her system, the knees of her clothes getting soaked, but she didn't care, at least not until an iron fist slapped her across the water.

It was Kanryu, his shirt burned away and dark burns marring a pale and wiry chest. If that was from his shirt, then Moegi _really_ didn't want to see his back.

"You _BITCH!_" He screamed, kicking her across the arena while she was down. She lurched and yelled as she felt a couple ribs break. Feebly, and trembling from exhaustion and pain, she rolled onto her back, still feeling the water creep up her sides. At this rate, she only had thirty seconds, maybe a minute, left before she sank.

Takeda's foot slammed into her gut, forcing blood out her mouth again.

"I'm gonna kill you!" He shrieked, punctuating each word with a stomp. Moegi felt pain shoot up and down her nerves, growing even worse as a poorly aimed stomp smashed into her ribs, aggravating the broken ones and breaking or fracturing several more. "I'm gonna fucking _kill_ y…." He broke off, and then next second he was screaming in pain, the yells loud and high enough to make her hair try to stand on end. Her ears dropped below water then and cut off the worst of it, but the rest of the crowd wasn't so lucky.

Kanryu began clawing at his heart, his veins beginning to bulge against his skin, his face looking more and more pallid by the second as his pain grew even worse, feeling molten lava was coursing through him instead of blood.

"Neji! What the hell's going on!" Tenten shouted, despite the Hyuuga genius sitting right next to her.

"I don't know!" He answered, Byakugan shining. "His chakra just went haywire, and so did his coils."

"N-Naruto-aniki? What's going on?" Konohamaru asked, having stopped his struggling when Kanryu went crazy.

"The hell if I know!" Naruto answered, unable to tear his eyes away from the gruesome spectacle. 'Kyuubi?'

The blond genin could feel the demon's interest was rapidly sharpening as the screaming went on. **'Drug's wearing off.'** The kitsune answered simply. **'The idiot got so caught up in what that girl did to him, he forgot to take more of the drug.'** The massive creature's lip pulled back, revealing fangs as tall as Naruto. **'The idiot mortal's about to get his.'**

Kanryu's screaming got worse, his veins standing out in cold relief against his skin, a depression visible in his mask from his open mouth. Suddenly he gagged, and blood shot out of his mask, a thick spray of it, even with the fabric, and Takeda Kanryu went silent, standing still for a second before falling backwards with a tremendous splash.

During the screaming, Moegi had been sinking, until Genma reached down and pulled her up and clear, preventing her from drowning, since she didn't have the energy or stamina to even think about swimming. Now she watched the rippling water with horrified eyes and chattering teeth as a comforting hand dropped onto her shoulder.

It was Kakashi, looking down at her with a sympathetic look in his eye. "Nice work, Moegi." He said.

"Y-y-y-you I-I-I-idiot," She stammered, trying hard to get out a coherent sentence. "Y…You're l-late!" She lurched forward abruptly and emptied the meager contents of her stomach into the water. A medic was a Kakashi's side a moment later and Moegi found herself borne away for the infirmary. He held a powder to her nose and she dropped into dreamless sleep a moment later.

* * *

Kakashi watched his student vanish then was surrounded by a platoon of ANBU, one of whom was a medic-nin from the dove mask. ANBU medics always wore dove masks, which both marked them as medics for allies and made enemies think that they were invincible, since you could kill one dove mask only to face another, identical one later on. Thus, the enemies learned to fear the dove mask, while to the injured and dying, it represented hope. The ultimate paradox. Naruto was not far behind the ANBU. Kakashi considered telling him to leave, but then realized that Naruto's skills had grown to roughly that of a Hokage or a Captain-level ANBU. Maybe his input could be worth something.

The body of Kanryu was retrieved and the other three ANBU held it steady while the medic ran a hand over the corpse, which still had bulging veins, and now blood was leaking from the rolled back eyes like red tears.

"Well?" The leader asked, whom Kakashi recognized as Tenzou, Yamato to the rest of the world.

The medic sighed. "Dunno what he used, but it killed him, and not in a pleasant way."

"What happened to him?" Kakashi asked. Despite not being in the Corps anymore, they were still a big fraternity, with the elders and the juniors respecting each other and still going out to drink once in a while. The dove was hesitant and Hatake knew why. "Naruto's not a problem. Now, what happened?"

Still the medic hesitated until a commanding voice interrupted. "Tell us." It was the Godaime. She was walking towards them with Shizune and Sakura in tow.

"Eh, I don't know what he took, but from my scanning, all I can say is that COD was cardiovascular in nature."

Tsunade nodded then dropped and did her own scan. If anyone could say, it would be the Slug Princess. "Damn." That was all she said for a moment before she straightened up. "It's nasty."

"Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked.

"His cardiovascular system is in shambles. No wonder you weren't able to get a solid prognosis."

Naruto broke in. "Cut the shit, Baa-chan. Just what the hell did that drug do?"

"Drug?" Sakura asked before her master cut her off.

"I assume _it_ told you?" No one present needed clarification on what _it_ was.

"Yeah."

"Alright, I'll tell you." She glared down at the corpse. "For this one, his withdrawal symptoms were an elevated heart rate and blood pressure."

Sakura paled. "Wait, you mean…?"

Tsunade nodded. "Yep. His heart beat so fast and so hard that it literally turned itself to mush."

"Is that possible?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah. It did it by contracting so fast and hard that it bruised the muscle tissue until it was ineffective, essentially just wet a paper towel. His heart beat itself to death."

"Must've been some BPM." Shizune remarked.

"You have no idea. Way too much for the human body to handle."

Tenzou spoke. "That doesn't explain the blood vessels all bulging like that."

"The blood pressure did it. When the heart picked up the pace, the pressure naturally increased, causing them to dilate and stand out, though that's only partially the problem. The additives in the power most certainly had something to do with it."

"All this for a chakra boost?" Sakura asked. "Why would he do something like that when he could train and get the same results?"

"It's easy," Kakashi said. "It's human nature to seek out the easiest way to get results. Achieving that amount of chakra would take decades of training, or a one-in-a-thousand shot from birth, like Naruto here."

While Sakura looked revolted, Tenzou and Tsunade shared whispered words that ended with the Hokage shaking her head no and Yamato moving off, his body language looking like he was mollified but not pleased. His wrist moved in a way that only Kakashi caught and understood.

It was ANBU hand language, a system of gestures and finger movements that allowed for totally silent communication. It was a system that had been used since the days of Tsunade's grandfather and it had yet to be decoded by enemies, since it was passed on, not from charts, but from word of mouth. Or would that word of hand? It was inevitable that meanings and connotations would change over the years, so it was always fluid, making it that much harder to decode.

A rookie ANBU's hand language would mean different things to Kakashi, who knew an older version. It led to some communication error here and there, but the Black Ops always managed to work around it.

The Copy-Nin translated Yamato's message in his head,

_Tried for an investigation of potential drug ring inside Konoha. Request denied, reason unknown._

Kakashi's own hand moved. He understood Yamato's request. If it could happen there, it could be happening here. If it was, Konoha had to move fast to stop it.

_Understood. Do nothing. Try for request on my end._

Yamato nodded slightly then made a motion to his team and the four masked shinobi left in a series of blurs, leaving Kanryu's body to float on the water. The Mizukage and his last remaining brother didn't come for the corpse, so eventually the medics removed it and set it on fire, though in actuality, the corpse was moved to a hidden morgue inside the hospital and instead what was burned was a Leaf shinobi who'd died on a mission, the body placed under genjutsu after genjutsu until it was impossible to unravel the layers of illusion.

Over the next few months, Takeda Kanryu's body would be examined and dissected to determine the exact composition of the drug, which was unique from maker to maker, then the results sent to Jiraiya, who would follow it back to the source, unless the source was Kanryu himself.

In the arena, the floor was drained of water, dried with fire jutsu until the muddied ground was cracked and bone dry, then Genma stepped up again.

"The next match! Kusajishi Sasame vs. Sarutobi Konohamaru!"

* * *

There you go. Next up is Konohamaru and Sasame, then Moegi vs. Ayame, then the two big matches, Sasame v Naruto and Ayame v Naruto. The little quirks about both girls I've mentioned here and there will be revealed in the coming chapters and then it'll be on to bigger and better things. Thanks for staying with the story so far and putting up with my attempts at a decent Chuunin Exam. I upped the rating just in case Kanryu's demise went over the limit T sets. It might go down, might stay the same. Depends on how gory I want to get with my battles from here on in.

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**Glossary**

**Katon: Karyuu Endan no Jutsu (Fire Style: Fire Dragon Technique): **Pretty much the fire version of Suiton Suiryuudan.

**Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu (Water Style: Water Dragon Technique):** It's not the literal translation, but since my computer keeps losing memory for reasons unknown, it's gonna have to do since I'm too damn lazy to wait the three minutes for the site to load. The jutsu involves using a nearby water source to make a dragon, or if your chakra is monstrous enough, make it from thin air, like the Nidaime and Kisame are known for.

**BPM: **Beats per minute, with respect to the heart and how many times it beats in one minute. (Obviously.)

**COD: **Not sure if it's an official abbreviation or not, but either way, Cause of Death. Self-Explanatory.


	16. Sasame

Disclaimer: I own jack squat

Last time: Moegi wins against the second Takeda bro.

This time: Konohamaru vs. Sasame!

* * *

"The next match! Kusajishi Sasame vs. Sarutobi Konohamaru!"

In the box, Konohamaru gulped nervously as Sasame made a happy noise of excitement and elected to not take the stairs, vaulting instead over the rail of the booth and landing with an easy grace on the ground below.

The display only served unsettle the teen more and he fell to his knees on the floor, one hand clasped over his mouth as he tried to keep down the breakfast he'd eaten before the Exams.

Looking back, he realized, eating may not have been one of his better ideas.

"Sarutobi Konohamaru! Come down now or be disqualified!"

Genma's voice cut the air again, but it awakened something inside of the grandson of the Sandaime. He was the last of the Sarutobi line, with his grandfather, father and uncle all dead, killed in battle or dying of natural causes. If he chickened out now, then what would people say of him, who had relatives among the revered Hokage and the feared Guards of Fire, the squad of elite shinobi who protected the Fire Daimyo?

He would be disgraced, never able to redeem his honor. He would go down in history as the coward black sheep among heros. The seventeen year old's hand clenched on the ground as the realization that he had to fight not only for himself and potentially his life, but also for the honor and prestige of his clan. If he wanted to be the Nanadaime someday then he had to start now.

"Sarutobi, last chance!"

Konohamaru lurched to his feet and looked down into the arena with a hard and determined look in his eyes. Some would say later that it resembled Naruto's look from eight years earlier when he fought Neji in the explosive opening match.

The last Sarutobi gripped the rail and vaulted over, landing in a crouch and showing everyone in the same moment, by mimicking his enemy's move, that he wasn't afraid to do what it took to keep up with his opponent.

Naruto arrived in the box with the last Takeda and Ayame, crossing his arms and leaning on the edge of the open hole in the wall, his eyes searching and observant, watching Konohamaru to see how much his perceived little brother had grown since he'd been gone and also watching Sasame to see if he couldn't pick up any clues to what he already knew about her.

Both fighters were at the center of the arena.

Genma's hand raised.

In the moments just before, Naruto began thinking. He was running in 'missing-nin mode'. It was the mindset that he'd sunken into in the intervening years between his abandonment of Konoha and his subsequent return.

'Ninjutsu. Sasame's really fond of ninjutsu and weapons. From what I've seen of Konohamaru, he's more of a close in taijutsu fighter.' His eyes narrowed. He really hoped Baa-chan had taught Konohamaru something good, otherwise this would be over real fast. 'This is the worst match up.'

'**Don't forget the power difference.'**

The blond nodded mentally. No matter how many good ninjutsu Konohamaru knew, there was the simple fact that Sasame was just leaps and bounds above a genin. The Sandaime's grandson was more than likely doomed to failure, but knowing Konohamaru as he did, Naruto was certain that the teen would be dragged into defeat kicking and screaming.

"Begin!"

Sasame and Konohamaru bounced back away from each other simultaneously, each pulling out a kunai, Sasame's appearing from her sleeve, and threw them at their opponent.

The knives met in a clash of sparks and fell to the ground, but the combatants were already in motion, speeding at each other as fast as they could before clashing in a massive battle of taijutsu skills.

From the first few blows, it was obvious that Konohamaru had the upper hand as his hands were free and unencumbered, unlike Sasame whose hands were covered by the over long sleeves of her dress. Despite that, she was able to hold off the genin as his attacks grew more and more fierce.

Konohamaru over extended one of his punches as Sasame batted the attack away with a casual brush of her left sleeve then she dropped and spun, sticking her leg out, catching the Sarutobi off guard and sweeping his legs out from under him. His eyes went wide as he seemed to hang in mid-air for a bit, then Sasame followed through, following through with her spin and rising almost like a champion figure skater to drive the heel of one hand into the open ribs of the falling genin and send him slamming into the wall hard enough to make a depression and send a spiderweb of fractures out from where he hit.

The teen fell to the ground in a heap before picking himself up, wincing as he put a hand to his rib.

'It hurts just to breath. A few must be broken,' Konohamaru realized, putting chakra into his hand as he began a basic diagnostic jutsu that the Godaime had taught him.

* * *

"_Alright, now listen up," Tsunade barked at the grandson of her sensei, who was sitting seiza on the ground in front of her. "You don't have the chakra control for the more advanced medical jutsu, or for my signature taijutsu, but I can teach you some basic medical jutsu."_

"_What!?" Konohamaru yelled at his sensei, "You mean I can use that mannish strength of yours!?"_

_A loud crack sounded, and Tsunade had her back to the genin who was cowering and holding the large bump on his head. "No, now listen and I'll explain. My taijutsu and medical jutsu require needle fine chakra control, which you don't have. However, I can teach you the basics, like how to heal a cut and a basic diagnostic jutsu among other things." She glared over her shoulder at the genin. "Any questions?"_

_Konohamaru opened his mouth to protest but saw the look in the Godaime's eyes and shuddered as he shook his head._

"_Good. Now, let's get started…"_

* * *

The next few weeks had been hell for Konohamaru as Tsunade had forced the genin to his limits again and again, exhausting him with ninjutsu training then forcing him to fight her until he couldn't move anymore. He had wondered if that training was what Sakura had gone through when she'd trained with the old lady, but the training really was paying dividends.

"Oh? You're alive?" Sasame sounded surprised when Konohamaru stood up with only a little hesitation from his abused ribs. "That should've killed you." She cocked her head like a curious kitten. "I wonder how you did it."

Konohamaru smirked. "An old hag with an evil temper."

Naruto laughed outright when he heard that, and when a massive wave of killing intent slammed down on him, he laughed even harder at his granny's expense.

Shizune, Sakura and Gaara looked at Tsunade, who had veins bulging all over her face and a look that said Konohamaru was a dead man when the two met next, and inched away, Gaara scooting his chair, almost seeing the flames spring to life around her.

'Konohamaru…You are so dead.' Sakura thought with a shudder.

The teen made a quick series of hand seals and his hand glowed green, which he pressed to his side and hissed in pain as he pushed the bone to its proper place and used the chakra to heal it as best he could. He wasn't able to totally heal it, but he could get it to the point where it wouldn't cause him as much pain. He finished and looked at Sasame.

"Now," he asked. "Where were we?"

Sasame giggled and her sleeves flew together then began bulging here and there as the kunoichi began to make hand seals.

Konohamaru dropped into his stance and watched as the woman continued with her jutsu. It was part of Tsunade's training. The Hokage had taught him how to watch for little idiosyncrasies in an opponents fighting style and from there be able to anticipate what they were going to do next. Tsunade had it down to a science and could predict an adversaries next move just as accurately as an Uchiha could.

Sasame finished her seals and brought her hand to her mouth.

"**Katon! Karyuu Endan!**"

A large dragon of flame spewed out and raged toward Konohamaru, who panicked and brought his hands up in a futile attempt to block the onrushing flame.

"Konohamaru-kun!" Shizune cried in alarm as the teen's figure was lost among the searing light and heat. "Where was Naruto!? He promised to save him!"

"Relax, Shizune."

"But Tsunade-sama…" The medic apprentice quieted when she noticed her mentor had a smirk on her face. She was lounging in her high-backed chair and looked for all the world that she was confident that Konohamaru was fine.

"Just watch. Don't sell that gaki short just yet."

* * *

Shizune wanted to protest further, but she did as she was told and looked down into the arena, where Sasame was straightening up with a put-out look on her face.

"Awww!" She whined. "Is he done already? It's not fair! Why do I always get stuck with the wimps!" She began to waver her long sleeves back and forth as she continued to carry on about her perceived bad luck when it came to strong opponents.

Up in the box, Ayame had strutted over to Naruto, who cast a single look her way then returned his attention to the ground below.

"Too bad, Naruto-kun," She purred, flicking her lavender hair in a way that was clearly meant to be an attempt at seduction, but Naruto knew the volatile kunoichi well enough that he wasn't fooled. "That's one more person you couldn't save."

The blond man glared at her icily.

"Don't bet on it, Ayame."

Ayame smirked. "Really? So you don't think he's dead?" She snorted. "You're still the idealistic fool I knew from the village."

Naruto scowled. "And you're still the icy bitch who underestimates her opponents."

* * *

Shuriken burst from the bushes behind Sasame and arced for the red kunoichi, who spun the moment she heard the whisper of the bladed stars leaving the foliage, green eyes going wide in surprise as she jumped back, senbon shooting from her sleeves to knock the stars out of the air.

Naruto's lip curled in a smirk that was usually seen on the face of arrogant prodigies like Sasuke, Itachi and Neji. "And so is your sister."

Several small, black, shadows shot past Sasame and arced back like boomerangs, revealing themselves to be shuriken that had been hidden in the shadow of the first volley.

"Kage Shuriken no Jutsu!?" Sasame wondered in surprise as she made to jump clear, then noticed the sun glinting off several fine metallic threads that were attached to each of the second wave of shuriken. "What?"

Konohamaru's voice rang out. "**Katon! Ryuuka no Jutsu!**" Several rivers of fire shot down the wires and surrounded the cheery kunoichi, effectively trapping her in a cage of spinning weapons, now glowing red-hot from when the fire had reached them, and burning wire.

The bushes shifted as _something_ shot from them, resolving into the grandson of the Sandaime as he drew back for a mid-air right hook. He sent chakra into his muscles, forcing them to contract harder and faster, making his blow that much more powerful in return.

His fist connected with Sasame's face, who was so surprised at being caught by a genin in a trap that she forgot to block and was sent flying, the shuriken tearing into her skin, making her cry out as she was cut and burned at the same time. Konohamaru twisted in mid-air and slipped through a gap in the weapons, avoiding the same fate himself. He landed on one knee as the shuriken, which had lost a lot of speed when they'd sliced into Sasame, thudded to the ground at the same moment, losing their cherry-red glow as the seconds passed.

Both combatants straightened up, wincing, Sasame from the multiple slashes she'd gotten and Konohamaru from the pain that was now shooting up his right arm from over-exerting his muscle. That right hook had really cost him, he knew, even as he brought a glowing hand to the arm to do what he could to put it right again.

* * *

"Clever," Naruto commented when he realized just what was going on. "He's got a ways to go yet, but if he masters that method of fighting, he really could end up being Hokage some day."

"What're you babbling about?" Ayame snapped, angry that she'd been proven wrong by some blond squirt with no real talent, though Naruto was taller that she was and could fight on par with some of the most powerful shinobi in the world, if the rumors she'd heard were true.

"Konohamaru used his chakra to make his arm's muscles contract faster, so he could hit harder. That increased the blow's power by a decent amount."

"Keh, judging from the way he's holding his arm, I'd say he overtaxed it and made that arm pretty much useless."

"True," Naruto admitted, "but that's why he's using medical ninjutsu to speed up the healing."

"What!?" Ayame whirled and looked. Sure enough, there was a faint green glow around the kid's other hand. The glow faded and his right arm moved, visibly trembling even from as far away as the other contestants were right then. "He didn't get it all the way fixed, though."

"I never said it was perfect," Naruto retorted. "There's a lot of risk involved, but as a training method and a short-term method of offense, it's pretty good." The former missing-nin grinned. "Sasame won't be winning this that easily."

Ayame turned with a catty grin. "But you think she'll win? Don't you always have faith in your friends?"

"Maybe Konohamaru won't be winning this battle," the other ninja said smugly, "but trust me, I'll win the war. That little squirt down there will soften up Sasame up to the point that she'll be easy for me to finish off."

That shut Ayame up, and she shot him a smoldering crimson glare before moving away to her old position, leaving the blond shinobi alone again.

'Konohamaru,' Naruto thought with a heavy sense of foreboding, 'don't prove me wrong.'

* * *

"Tsunade-sensei?" Sakura asked softly as she stepped up beside her master. She'd long since dropped the 'shishou' honorific at Tsunade's behest, who claimed it made her feel old, and anyone who knew her on a friendly basis knew how much the Godaime hated to be reminded of that.

"What?" The Hokage's reply was snippy, but Sakura had known her master long enough to know that it was out of relief that Konohamaru was okay and concern that now he was okay, he wouldn't be for long.

"Uh, Sensei, did you teach him that?" It had been obvious from the very start to the trio of medical kunoichi just what Konohamaru had done to throw Sasame for a loop like that.

Tsunade looked at her second apprentice for a second then smiled smugly. "No, actually, I didn't. He came up with it all on his own."

"How?" Shizune asked.

"By thinking outside the box like Kakashi and Naruto are prone to doing."

"I don't get it," Sakura said, puzzled.

"I didn't teach him how to mix his chakra like that to amplify the contraction of his muscles. That's the basic fundamentals of my taijutsu. You use the chakra to amplify the contraction of the muscle and also use the chakra in your fist to increase the damage radius by several times."

"Right, and?" Sakura asked, knowing this. After all, she knew Tsunade's taijutsu herself.

"Well, we keep it within the limit of the human body to avoid shredding muscle like Konohamaru just did, though he didn't really overdo it like he could've, by releasing the chakra in our fists at the exact moment of impact. Konohamaru doesn't have anywhere near the control required for that. So he circumvented it by making the muscle contract that much harder with the chakra he should've used in his fist."

"So you mean…?"

The Hokage nodded. "Yeah. He's essentially created a variation of our style by working with what he knows." She smiled fondly, something she never did very often. "That kid really is the Sandaime's grandson."

"And with the rudimentary medical jutsu he knows," Shizune added. "He could, in theory, repair any damage done to his muscles in seconds if he gets enough time."

"Right, but that would essentially do the same thing as my seal if he does it in combat on a regular basis." Tsunade's face darkened somewhat. "It's a brilliant short-term solution to this problem, but he isn't able to heal the damage totally as he is now, for one, and for two, he'll end up aging at an accelerated rate if he ever fully develops it." She sighed. "Great, I have to teach _another_ brat!"

"Hey!" Shizune and Sakura shouted together, making the Godaime laugh.

* * *

"Wow! Not bad!" Sasame said happily as she wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth where Konohamaru's fist connected. "Maybe I can get serious!" Her sleeves came together and began to wriggle as she made hand seals.

'Crap!' Konohamaru thought as he began to hop back to get some distance from the kunoichi as she flung her sleeves back. As they came forward, his hands came together in a sequence of his own.

"**Ninpou! Senbon Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**"

The rain of needles poured out of her sleeves like a monsoon-season rain storm, each and every one of the needles on target to perforate Konohamaru and turn him into the senbon-filled corpse that had become Sasame's signature on the battlefield.

The needles hit and blood sprayed everywhere as some stuck and others flew straight on through, filling the genin with holes. His eyes rolled back, blood flying from his mouth as he fell back, thudding to the ground with a finality that had even Naruto wondering if he got away safely.

There was a poof of smoke then a ground-shaking explosion, wood fragments flying as the tagged log that Konohamaru had substituted with detonated, the shrapnel shredding trees, bushes and leaves, though Sasame herself was unharmed, only because _she_ substituted with a Kage Bunshin at the last second.

The crowd, shocked into silence by the sudden explosion, went wild as the two fighters emerged unharmed from the bushes at the opposing edges of the arena.

Konohamaru's face was set into an uncharacteristically grim mask as he watched the woman across from him check her clothes for any new rips and tears. That set his jaw on edge. She didn't consider him a threat? Well, he'd show her!

His pulse began to quicken. He had to do _something_ to end it and he had to do it quick. He was almost out of weapons and his chakra was beginning to run low. He had nowhere near the endurance of Naruto-aniki or Sakura, though she wasn't in the same leauge as Naruto, she did have more endurance than Konohamaru. He had enough for another few exchanges, and that was it.

A minute passed.

Then another. Konohamaru's foot slid back. Sasame mimicked the move.

Another minute and both, at some unseen signal, exploded into motion, rushing at the other as fast as they could in a mutual agreement to use taijutsu for this newest skirmish in the battle.

They clashed and once again were whirling and kicking and punching, but it was futile. Konohamaru put up a good fight, but in the end, Sasame's greater experience, stamina and form won out and she knocked the genin into the air with a vicious heel hand to the chin, then she drew back and as Konohamaru fell, drove her hand deep into his gut, making him spit blood and shoot backwards into the arena wall in a spray of shattered concrete.

* * *

"Konohamaru!" The cry came from Naruto as he watched the shinobi he had come to think of as a little brother since the second exam slam into the wall and make a massive depression with an oval hole in the middle. "Damn!" He gripped the rail and prepared to vault over, but Kyuubi's youki surged and paralyzed his legs.

'Dammit Kyuubi! What the fuck do you think you're doing!?' The irate blond demanded of his tenant, who just stared down at him with a single cat-like eye.

'**Naruto, don't interfere. It would end this match before it got started.'**

'What the hell have you been smoking fox!?'

The kitsune's lip curled. **'Despite your skill, you're still a naïve brat. Take a second to listen and maybe you'll hear it.'**

Naruto snarled, but he closed his eyes anyway, calming himself and listening to his other senses. Slowly, the faint 'thump-thump' of a heartbeat reached his ears, easily discernable since the crowd had gone silent again when the Sandaime's grandson had hit the wall.

'What?'

'**That little gaki is tougher than you give him credit for. Just watch. He may surprise even you.'**

'If you're wrong…' Naruto trailed off, leaving the threat unsaid.

'**If I'm wrong, then you can do whatever the hell you want. Who knows? Maybe I'll even lend a hand.'** The fox's booming laughter filled the blonde's ears as he left his mindscape and returned to the waking world, just in time to catch a beat-up Konohamaru shoot from the hole like a bullet at Sasame, drawing back and hitting the woman in the face with a blow that sent ripples through the dirt around their feet and seemed to echo around the stadium.

* * *

Sasame stumbled but didn't fall, which surprised Konohamaru and left him open to the heel hand that the kunoichi delivered to his solar plexus in retaliation, throwing him away to tumble head over heels until his slammed into the wall next to his hole with a sick crunch and a cry of pain. He slumped but stayed upright, took a few rolling steps forward then just seemed to fall into a dash that had him going straight for Sasame again, and this time he drew a kunai from his holster, one of his last ones, and lunged, trying to slip the blade between his foe's ribs and kill her.

He flew through the air as Sasame batted him aside with almost a careless back hand, crashing into one of the trees in the arena so hard that the plant shook and let loose a hail of leaves.

"Aww. Come on! You can do better than that can't you!?" The kunoichi said with a pouting expression. "And I got all worked up about fighting you too! Dammit, I hate it when I'm wrong." She looked away, but her attention was quickly recaptured when Konohamaru stumbled out of the bushes, holding his shoulder, trying to staunch the blood that was running down his now useless arm and trying to blink away the blood that kept getting in his eyes from the gash on his forehead over his left eye.

His clothes were torn, his hirai-ate hung lazily in front of his right eye, almost like Kakashi except in reverse. Reaching up with his uninjured hand, he somehow managed to straighten it and retighten the small piece of armor so that it sat straight, solving the problem of the blood from his forehead getting into his eye. The hirai-ate would act as both bandage and sponge as it kept pressure on the injury and soaked up whatever blood came through, at least until it got saturated and started to drip.

'Shit. Vision keeps fading,' Konohamaru thought to himself as his eyesight blurred, refocused for a moment when he blinked, then blurred again. Whether from exhaustion or blood loss he didn't know, but what he did know is that he had to so something now to get in at least a decent shot on Sasame before he passed out. 'I really didn't want to use this, but I have no choice.'

He grunted as he force his injured arm to move, the limb shrieking in protest, the nerves up and down it feeling as if liquid fire was rolling over them. Gritting his teeth to bite back a scream, he forced his hands to mold into a sequence of seals.

This jutsu was his last resort. It would be the final technique he used because if he was still conscious after the effect happened, he wouldn't have the chakra for anything else.

'Gramps, Uncle Asuma, I hope you're watching, because this is all I've got left to make you guys proud.'

"That sequence!" Tsunade yelled, leaning forward. "He can't possibly…Not in his condition!"

"What's he doing?" Shizune asked.

The Hokage sat back with a heavy sigh, partially covering her face with one hand. "He's using his birthright." She answered cryptically.

"Konohamaru, wait!" Naruto shouted, recognizing the sequence himself and knowing that the genin just didn't have the chakra for it. Not at this point. "Don't…!"

"**Ninpou!**" The Sandaime's grandson shouted. "**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!**" He slammed a bloody hand into the ground, from which spread a spiderweb of intricate black lines. An explosion of smoke later and there was a white-furred monkey as tall as any human, decked out in full shinobi gear right down to his Konoha hirai-ate, stood blinking in the bright sun.

He looked around puzzled, then spotted the swaying Konoha genin who stood behind him.

"Hm? Konohamaru-kun? What's going on? Why did you summon me?" Enma the monkey King asked, his face showing his puzzlement. The summoner panted heavily, wavering as if he was about to collapse at any moment as he reached into his kunai pouch and pulled out a small black pill which he popped into his mouth and swallowed.

The Sandaime's grandson blinked once or twice to clear his vision and looked at the ape in front of him.

"I need your help, Enma-san," he replied, heavy pants coloring his words. Despite the boost from the soldier pill, he still was in no shape to last any length of time against an enemy like Sasame.

For better or worse, the Summoning Technique had been his last jutsu. From here on it would be his stamina which determined how long he lasted.

The monkey nodded. "Of course, Konohamaru-kun. I assume that our enemy is this scarlet woman over here?"

"Yeah. She's tough, so if you wouldn't mind…"

Enma nodded. "Say no more. I shall lend my assistance, Konohamaru-kun." The ape struck a pose, arms thrown wide and his right leg resting above his left knee. "Henge!"

There was a poof and a black staff with gold caps on the end spiraled high into the air to land with a sharp smack in Konohamaru's hand, who twirled the weapon deftly and set himself up to attack.

"Oh?" Sasame asked, "You wanna play with weapons? Okay! I can do that!" She pulled out a small scroll, unrolled it then bit her thumb, swiping the blood across a specific seal character. There was another explosion of shinobi smoke as an unsheathed katana landed in the cheery kunoichi's hand.

She looked at the edge as it gleamed in the sun, the temper line glittering as she moved it around to check the weapon's sharpness, though anyone and everyone who knew anything about weapons could see that it was a first-class weapons and didn't need any checking or sharpening.

Sasame held up her sword, the blade gleaming near her chin, tip angled at the ground as she waited for Konohamaru to make the first move.

The genin gulped as he held his staff at the ready, heart beginning to race. Sasame didn't look harmless, but he knew, he wasn't a fool. The red kunoichi was toying with him something terrible. He was breaking his back to do everything he could to scratch her and she was only doing the bare minimums. That little bit in the opening round and since had taken every fiber of his being to pull off and he still had a ways to go.

"Konohamaru-kun," said the staff in his hand, a small eye opening on the pole. "You do realize that since your chakra is lacking, I'm not as strong as I was with your grandfather or uncle."

"I know. This is the final move, one way or another."

"Even if it means your death?"

"Naruto-aniki said he'd help if she was going to kill me." The staff fell silent, knowing that the kid would be alright if he'd promised. The monkey had heard good things about the blond kid from the toads he knew.

"Very well. If you understand the consequences then I shall not stand in your way, Konohamaru-kun."

"Thank you, Enma-san."

There was a moment of quiet between both combatants then they lunged at each other with war cries the weapons meeting in a bright shower of sparks.

Konohamaru bounced back and leveled the end of his staff at Sasame's face, who held her sword up to prepare for the attack. What happened next caught her off guard, because Enma extended without warning, one gold capped end shooting forward like a bullet, catching the surprised kunoichi under her chin, snapping her head back and throwing her into the wall on the other side of the arena in an explosion to match the one he'd made earlier.

Enma retracted and Konohamaru twirled the staff over his head before slamming an end into the ground with a proud grin on his face. The smoke and rubble cleared and revealed Sasame, sprawled spread-eagle on some fragments, a dark bruise already rising on her jaw where the monkey-staff had caught her. She wasn't moving, but the genin could see her chest rising and falling.

Sasame was out cold.

Naruto's grip tightened on the rail, the blond feeling his heart begin pound as he realized just what had happened. This was the worst thing that could've happened. Konohamaru had just sealed his defeat in this match. Before, he'd had a chance, no matter how small, of defeating Sasame in this match. Now, though, he had no chance, and if he was right, then the reason why would be making its presence known in just a moment.

Icy and haunting laughter filled the air. People in the stands began looking around for the source, as Konohamaru was doing, but Naruto and his inner demons already knew where the noise was coming from.

Sasame's red-clad chest was heaving from the hearty laughing. Finally, the crowd began to catch on and one by one, the people and lower-ranked shinobi in the seats began to focus on the kunoichi who was laughing her head off as if getting KO'd was the funniest thing in the world, though the sound was creepy, like what you'd expect to hear from Gaara or Shukaku in the old days.

She began to rise, by some trick with her body keeping her torso almost parallel to the ground so it gave the impression that a puppetmaster had attached a string to her chest and was pulling her off the ground, letting her arms and head dangle. Sasame got to her feet, slumping forward, sleeves hanging as if her arms weren't even in them.

One hand came up, grasped the opposite sleeve, then jerked hard, rending the cloth at the shoulder with a sharp tearing noise that echoed throughout the entire stadium like a gunshot. The rent sleeve was released and blew away in the light breeze that was sweeping the stadium to get tangled in the brambles of one of the bushes. Another rip and the other arm was free.

Konohamaru gulped. This was a total one eighty from the perky, happy kunoichi from just a few moments ago.

"Konohamaru-kun," Enma said grimly, "this is about to get very hairy."

"Yeah…Can you help me?"

An eye opened on the staff. "I will do my best."

He inhaled deeply, trying to calm his racing nerves and endorphins. "Right. Thanks." While the genin prepared to do battle again, Sasame ripped the yellow bows from the bottom of her braids and yanked a rough hand through her hair, disentangling braids and letting her hair blow in the breeze before pulling a blood-red ribbon from nowhere and tied her hair back in a simple ponytail, before standing up straight and open her closed eyes.

"Shit!" Naruto couldn't keep the curse from flying off his lips. He knew who was out there now, and the eyes confirmed it.

Sasame's eyes had shifted from their usual vivid green to a hard and sinister amber, the same color of Orochimaru's when the snake was still alive and menacing the world.

The kunoichi's lips curled in a sneering and evil smile. When she spoke, the voice was Sasame's but the tone was someone else's.

"So, you're the little boy that let me out after so long. Thanks, I need the exercise."

Konohamaru gripped Enma tighter.

"What're you talking about, Sasame-san?"

Sasame burst out laughing. "Sasame-chan? _Sasame?_ Don't make me laugh, chibi! Are you mistaking me for that airhead?" The woman snorted. "Looks like we need an introduction kid. You can call me Yumi."

"What?"

Sasame/Yumi looked surprised. "What? Blond-boy up there didn't tell you about me? He's met me you know."

"Naruto-aniki?"

Yumi laughed again. "Aniki? Naruto-_aniki_?" She looked at the blond shinobi, who was staring at her with ice hard eyes. She gave a mock coy wave. "Didn't know you had a little brother, Naruto-_chan._" There was a derogatory lilt to the honorific.

"Been too long, Yumi. Wish it was longer."

"Oh! The old cliché. Real witty, Naru-chan, I thought you were more creative than that."

"You know the furball is just chomping at the bit to meet you again, Yumi." Naruto was satisfied to see the woman go a little pale. The last meeting between Kyuubi and Yumi had been…explosive to say the least. The entire area the two had been fighting in had been turned into a big crater that, when Naruto had visited it again while looking for a camping ground, had turned into a new lake by a river that had been partially diverted later in the duel.

By the fight's end, Yumi had been turned back into Sasame and had been beat pretty good. If that wound had healed the way Naruto thought, the MPD-afflicted kunoichi should have a massive scar on her back in the shape of Kyuubi's chakra paw. And that was before the merge, before Naruto and Kyuubi had found a way to let even more of that searing youki out.

The kunoichi snorted. "Well, that doesn't matter. I'll deal with you two when the time comes." She picked up the sword that had fallen from Sasame's grasp when the happier side of the shinobi's personality had been hit by Enma's sudden extension. Slamming it back into the sheath and laying a light hand on the hilt, she got ready to strike.

* * *

Neji's pearly eyes narrowed grimly at the sudden departure from what he was familiar with.

"Tenten, what's she up to?" The Hyuuga prodigy asked his kunoichi teammate.

"Iaijutsu, also known as iaido, it's the art of drawing the sword from the sheath and killing the enemy in a single strike." Tenten sighed. "Konohamaru-kun has his work cut out for him if she's a master. Legends say that a master could kill you in a single slash before even you knew you were dead."

"In other words," Gai said in a bout of seriousness, "she is a deadly adversary."

"That's an understatement."

* * *

'Great,' Konohamaru thought. 'Now I have to predict her movement and get it right on the first try.' He gulped. 'Well, here goes.' The genin began to study the enemy in front of him. She was leaning forward, all her weight on her right leg, in preparation to dash at him before she slashed him with the katana. Judging by the way she was holding it, Yumi would try for a diagonal slash from right hip to left shoulder. With the speed she would get from the slash, chances were that Yumi was expecting to kill him in one slash which meant that she would be wide open after. If he could dodge the attack, then he could retaliate and possibly get a win out of this.

Both settled in for a waiting game in which both knew that the opening move would fall to Yumi. She decided to move not long after and dashed in so fast that Konohamaru barely got Enma up in time, but it wasn't any use, because the keen blade of the sword, and the reduced state in which Enma fought due to Konohamaru lacking the chakra of a Kage, sliced right through and a streak of silver passed over the genin's body right along the path he'd predicted earlier.

Blood sprayed high into the air as Konohamaru fell back with a cry, the severed halves of his staff clattering to the ground and disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"KONOHAMARU!!"

Naruto's cry was the only sound in the stadium as the wounded genin landed flat on his back, the front of his shirt beginning to turn crimson as he slowly bled out. Yumi raised her katana and licked Konohamaru's blood off the tip, which was running down the edge in a small red river. Somehow, that sight, more than anything else that'd happened in the past few seconds, infuriated Naruto beyond reason.

'**Kit! Calm down! _Now!_'**

Kyuubi's cry fell on deaf ears, and the great demon felt his youki begin to move as Naruto's fury began to peak, drawing on the red chakra that coursed through the shared body and coils.

Naruto felt an electric jolt run through him as the youki hit him and his rage, fueled and amplified by the demonic energy, increased, which in turn drew out more of the demon's chakra in a self-destructive spiral that already had Naruto's face taking on its demonic signs and a faint red vapor beginning to swirl around him, lifting the cloak as if in a gentle breeze.

Kyuubi hurried to move the remainder of his chakra behind the seal that still bound him to Naruto, though it was too late and the blond was already in control of two tails worth of youki, and despite moving the chakra behind the greatly weakened seal, it wouldn't hold for long and as time went on, the chakra would heed to Naruto's anger and come to him, which would further increase his anger and blood lust. It was a vicious cycle, and it was one that would continue until Naruto got his head back on his shoulders and calmed down.

If it got too bad, Naruto might end up drawing on five tails, which was the limit the blond could handle. It would be just like with the four tails, only more intense, without the chakra buffer the two had developed.

There was a brief pause in the cycle as Konohamaru, blood dripping from his soaked shirt and dripping from his chin where he'd coughed up a little of the red liquid, struggled to his feet and reached a trembling hand into his belt pouch and drew out a blood-red pill and a kunai. He popped the pill, which some of the shinobi recognized a blood pill, a tool which would increase his blood production many fold, allowing him to last just a little longer with the injury he sported. Ragged breathing filled the air as he swayed on his feet, face pale, and looking like he would keel over and pass out at any moment.

Naruto's rage subsided, though his face remained demon-like, the youki ceased its surging and receded, his cloak falling limp and the red swirl around him vanishing.

"Konohamaru…" he murmured, both shocked at the genin's tenacity and a little concerned for his friend's well-being.

Yumi snorted. "You've got some awesome stamina, kid, I'll give you that, but you're still…" she raised her sword, this time getting ready to rush in with a stab, "_Dead!_" She blurred forward, a dark streak over the ground.

Konohamaru never stood a chance. He was exhausted, wounded, and was nowhere near Sasame's rank, and Yumi was even more powerful than her other personality. Yumi's katana became nothing but a series of silvery streaks that bit into countless points on the other shinobi's body. The Sandaime's grandson screamed in pain as he was lacerated in multiple places, stabbed in countless more, blood flying and once again he was thrown backwards.

The red-clad kunoichi backed up, blinking as Konohamaru again staggered upright again, despite the pain that was tearing through him, making him feel as if he was on fire from the inside out.

"Ready to go again?" Yumi asked, sounding almost eager as she prepped to stab again, most likely ready for a fatal shot. Konohamaru knew that he was no match for Yumi/Sasame, especially before. He'd been lucky, but his luck had run out and he could go no further. His grandfather had told him once that it wasn't shameful to admit defeat if you couldn't win. The kid he was, Konohamaru had proudly proclaimed that he would never lose, but here was the proof that he could lose, so he would accept it and move on, heal, then beg Tsunade-sensei to train him more, or to maybe he could get Sakura to do it. He _would_ get stronger, there would be no doubt about it.

He raised a quaking hand and spoke the most painful phrase of his life.

"I forfeit."

Yumi burst out laughing. "Give up?" She chuckled, "You can't give up. In a real battle, do you think you can just give up? Sorry, chibi, but in a real battle, you keep going until someone…" She sprang forward, sword speeding forward, arcing straight for Konohamaru's vitals. "_Dies!_"

The genin shut his eyes and braced for the feel of steel slipping between his ribs. There was a 'splurch' and blood sprinkled Konohamaru's face, but for some reason there was no pain. He wasn't cold, or gurgling up blood.

Nothing.

Aside from the dull pulsing pain of his other wounds, he felt fine. The genin opened his eyes a little, then they went wide when he beheld the sight before him.

Naruto's cloak was fluttering to the ground in the box above, and the shinobi himself was right in front of the younger genin, Yumi's katana sticking through his hand, which he'd used to stop the attack.

He looked back, crimson eyes drilling into Konohamaru. "You alright?"

"N-Naruto-aniki?"

"Sorry about all this."

"It's not your fault."

"Thanks for that, but now," he glared at Yumi who swallowed hard and backed up, leaving the katana embedded in Naruto's hand, which he grabbed and ripped free with only a small grunt of pain, the wound hissing and closing in seconds, leaving only a thin pink mark behind. "I have to deal with Yumi."

Genma's hand gripped Naruto's shoulder, bringing the former missing-nin up short.

"That will have to wait until the quarter-finals, Naruto-san." He looked around. "If we could continue?"

A few minutes later, Naruto and the last Takeda were facing off, the other man smirking confidently, and the blond shinobi glaring with hard crimson eyes.

"Uzumaki Naruto vs. Takeda Koza!"

The Takeda got ready to lunge.

"Begin!"

Koza sprinted forward, grinning wildly.

"Die Blondie!"

* * *

Well, there you go. Sorry it took so freaking long. I've been busy trying to get Ultimate Ace going, and that took a while, and this chapter was a bit of a bitch to get together too. BUT, I got it done and I hope you enjoyed Sasame's little hidden trait. Sorry if the battle was a little boring, but don't worry, Yumi vs. Naruto should be a lot better. Oh yeah, expect my updates to slow down a tad. I'm home again from college again and I'm taking summer courses. For those of you who know what that means, I feel your pain. For those who don't, well, it's a college course that should take fifteen weeks, but the profs cram all that into just five. Needless to say, I'm gonna be busy with homework and such. So yeah, that's it. See you all next chapter.

Edit: 7-1-2008. Just a small change that needed to be clarifed. Thanks to KingKakashi for pointing it out.


	17. The Death Match

Disclaimer: Own nothing, except the Kusajishi twins.

Last Time: Konohamaru gets mauled.

This time: Naruto fights Yumi.

* * *

Koza sprinted forward, grinning wildly.

"Die Blondie!"

Naruto was fully prepared to hold back and fight Koza, but as the other man began his attack, his face was replaced by Konohamaru's, pallid with blood loss and drenched with sweat, which was then replaced by another face, one with a arrogant smirk and leering gold eyes.

Yumi's face.

A bubble of rage burst in Naruto's chest. He had to end this. Drawing it out would reduce that chance that he'd be able to go toe to toe with Yumi and Ayame one after another.

"What!?" Koza shouted when Naruto simply vanished.

"Sorry," said a voice behind the last Takeda, "but I don't have time to waste with you." A blow like a runaway bull slammed into the base of Koza's neck, making his body go tingly and stars burst in his vision, but by the time he'd recovered, the unforgiving concrete of the arena wall filled his vision.

'This is gonna hurt,' crossed his mind briefly then the world went dark.

The crowd, up until this point roaring their approval, went dead silent, the only noise being the clunking of chunks of concrete that were falling from the bloom of smoke and debris that covered Koza's body.

The dust settled and Koza was buried in the wall. A cracking noise split the air and he fell backwards, slamming to the ground with a finality that echoed almost eerily in the stadium.

* * *

"What happened?" asked Sakura. Unlike Koza, who'd never seen his defeat coming, she'd actually seen Naruto move. Well, in reality all she saw was a blur then Koza flying into the wall with enough force to rattle the stadium, but still, she'd seen _something_.

"Uzumaki Naruto is thinking with his head for once," Gaara said tonelessly. "He has to face two kunoichi who can fight on equal terms with him next. Holding back against trash like that would only invite potential disaster."

"I would ask," the Mizukage said with a steely tone, "that you not refer to my shinobi as trash, Kazekage-sama." Gaara only spared the man an icy teal glare. "Still, I must commend him. Koza is one of my village's most gifted genin. To defeat him in one blow, this man is truly beyond genin. Why is he still at such a low rank?"

"He's been away on a training trip for a while." Tsunade answered icily.

"Oh? I would think that this blond man is the Sound missing-nin that has been making such a fuss for the past year or two."

"What makes you think that, Mizukage-sama?" Tsunade asked, throwing the –sama at the end on as a technicality, as if she didn't think he deserved the title. Something about this guy was making her nervous. It felt like he was fishing for information.

Abruptly the man stood and headed for the stairs. "My last genin has been knocked unconscious. There is no reason for me to stay. Good day, my fellow Kages." Then he was gone in a flick of white robe.

"Bastard," Tsunade growled once she was sure that he was out of earshot. Gaara only nodded his agreement.

* * *

Genma lost no time in declaring Naruto the winner, then announcing the next match between Ayame and Moegi. Ayame was in the ring the moment her name was announced, tapping her foot impatiently as she awaited Moegi's return to the arena.

Five minutes passed, then ten, then fifteen and still Moegi didn't show up. Most of the crowd wasn't too surprised. After all, she had been beaten up pretty badly and then drugged to sleep. They wouldn't begrudge her a little time for R&R.

At the twenty minute mark, Genma stepped up.

"If Moegi does not return to the arena in five minutes, then Ayame will win by default!"

Naruto's eyes narrowed then he turned on his heel in a swirl of dark fabric, heading for the hospital wing. What he saw when he entered made him vow to beat Yumi's face into the ground even more than he'd planned.

Konohamaru was pale and clammy, surrounded by three medic-nin, hooked up to all sorts of medical machinery and IV tubes, one for blood, another for nutrients, and others that Naruto couldn't even begin to guess at. The blonde's eyes darted to the EKG machine almost the moment he registered that it was Konohamaru lying there and not Takeda Koza.

The lines on the EKG were feeble and erratic, but the medics weren't scurrying around in a frenzy, which meant he had to be at least stable or was beyond help, though Naruto banished that thought the moment it entered his head.

"How is he?" the Jinchuuriki asked, making one of the medics jumped. Two of the three glared at him, being old enough to know what he was and they had not been present at the wall. The third medic looked to be around Naruto's age and she turned with a sigh.

"It's not pretty."

"Ino?" Naruto forgot all about Konohamaru's plight at the sight of Sakura's blond friend/rival, clad in the gear of a medic.

"Hi, Naruto." She managed a weak smile as he moved to Moegi's bedside, watching the teen sleep soundly. "Konohamaru's in stable condition now and we think he'll make a full recovery, but…"

"You still have to keep an eye on him, right?"

The other blond nodded. Naruto had seen that coming. Doctors and nurses rarely committed themselves to an answer of any kind, both to prepare the family for the worst and to avoid malpractice suits.

"How about Moegi? Her match is up now."

Ino was shaking her head even before he finished speaking. "Not going to happen, Naruto. She's still out, though it's chakra exhaustion now more than anything else. I can't see her moving anywhere for at least the next six hours."

Naruto sighed, rolling his shoulder. "Right. Looks like I'm up again."

Ino grinned. "I'll have a bed ready for your opponent."

She shivered when Naruto's eyes darkened to something dark and dangerous. "No," he said in a chilling voice. "Not a bed. A body bag." With that, he swept from the medical bay, his cloak seeming to take on a life of its own in response to his dark mood. Ino shivered.

"Jeeze, he always did like theatrics."

* * *

Naruto reemerged into the sun of the contestants box, blinking twice to adjust his vision, then he vaulted over the rail to land next to Genma. The senbon-chewing jounin looked at him like he'd gone mad.

"Uzumaki, it's not your match. Get back to the booth."

"I just came from sick bay," the other shinobi answered. "You might as well call it now, because Moegi-chan's not going to be out in time."

"You sure?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. She overdid it a little with her chakra. She's out like a light."

Ayame snorted as Genma announced the winner. "Figures. Only an idiot would use up all her chakra like that."

"Shut up," the blond growled. Even if it wasn't a roundabout insult at him, he still didn't like it when people insulted his friends. "I'll deal with you in the finals."

Ayame grinned viciously. "You mean if you get past Yumi."

"I've done it once," Naruto answered. "I'll do it again, no problem."

The blue missing-nin didn't answer, instead walking off for her place while Yumi came down the steps, naked sword already in her hand. Naruto's answer was to tug off his cloak and let it blow away before unsealing Kazekiri and drawing the weapon.

Genma looked from one to the other and backed up a few dozen paces. He knew he didn't need to announce the beginning. This wasn't going to be your usual genin battle. These two were out for blood and at the end, one of them would probably be dead.

Killing intent saturated the air, making those who weren't used to it choke and gag, feeling as if the air was so humid that it wouldn't move from their lungs. Even those who were used to killing intent felt as if a weight was crushing down on them.

"Incredible," Sakura whispered as the air around Naruto and Yumi began to ripple and distort from the intensity. "This isn't going to be pretty."

* * *

Just out of sight of Konoha's walls, the Mizukage stopped and looked back at the village. He snorted as a puff of smoke enveloped him to reveal a man with a swirl-like mask with a single eyehole from which a glared a cold Sharingan, his body swathed in the cloak of the Akatsuki.

Tobi smirked beneath his mask. "Who would have guessed," the rogue said to himself. "Naruto-kun is in fact the Oto missing-nin. Itachi-kun should be rather pleased to hear that his target has been located."

He sank into the ground and was gone.

* * *

In the arena, two blurs bounced off each other in a shower of sparks, resolving into Yumi and Naruto, each clinging to the much-abused walls of the arena.

"Not bad, Naruto!" Yumi called. "Try this!" She charged, her left hand flying through a set of one-handed seals. "**Katon! Housenka no Jutsu!**" A barrage of fireballs flew from her mouth, arcing for Naruto like meteors.

The blond ducked, tumbled, rolled and zig zagged, all in an effort to avoid getting scorched. He came out of a roll closer to Yumi than she'd predicted and both swords flashed, coming together with an echoing ring and another flash of sparks. The blades locked, each straining to overpower the other before Naruto shifted and lashed out with a roundhouse, though Yumi softened the blow by getting her shoulder into it, as a result only skidding a few feet, but there was no time for a reprieve.

Naruto was in her face, sword dancing like a silver snake, pressing his advantage as she strained to keep up with his lightning-fast strokes.

He came in too slow on a thrust, which Yumi batted away then snapped her foot up, catching Naruto in the chin, lifting him from his feet before her katana flashed and Naruto's went flying, blood spraying onto the ground behind him.

Kazekiri stuck, quivering in the soil, keen edge glinting. The gold-eyed kunoichi pulled her blade back, freeing it from Naruto's blood-slicked grip. At the last moment, the man had thrown his katana away and grabbed the blade of Yumi's, taking a vicious cut in the palm of his hand.

Blood flew from the wound as Naruto flicked his hand to get some of the fluid off, though his steely gaze never wavered, keeping locked on Yumi's.

* * *

"Naruto's fighting like a different person," Tenten observed from next to Neji. "It's almost a total one-eighty from when we sparred."

The Hyuuga's pearly eyes flicked over his teammate before being drawn to the motion Naruto made when he flung himself backwards, catching the hilt of his katana and rolling to his feet in one smooth motion. He whipped it to test the grip he had then they were gone in a blur of flashing sliver and orange sparks.

Neji nodded. "It's no surprise. A life-and-death is very different from a casual spar. In addition, he's spent five years living on his own and fighting on his own. His fighting style is bound to change."

* * *

Below, Naruto and Yumi reappeared, Naruto beginning to show signs of strain. His breathing was deepening and he was beginning to sweat somewhat. He didn't often move at these speeds, mostly using it for high-speed assassinations. Sustaining it was starting to tax him, and he needed to stay as fresh as he could for Ayame later.

"You look tired, Naruto," Yumi taunted. Naruto snorted, matching her smirk with one of his own.

"Just getting warmed up," he said.

"Really? Then, how about a round two?"

"I was wondering when you'd ask." Yumi vanished, reappeared then swung. The abrupt speed took Naruto off-guard, and his sword went flying to stick in the wall on the far side of the arena. "Shit!"

A second swing and blood sprayed, Naruto skidding backward, his shirt flapping from the diagonal gash torn in it, clutching at the wound beneath it. Thankfully, he'd managed to get enough distance to soften the blow.

"Not so high and mighty now, huh?" She licked the blade clean with obvious relish. "What'll you do now?"

Naruto gave her a sardonic fox grin and wiped the blood from the gash. Except the gash was healing up.

Soon, where a wound had been, was only a thin pink line that looked as if it'd happened within the last few months, not seconds. Next Yumi noticed that the wound on Naruto's hand was gone too.

"You've gotten faster at that."

"Amazing right?"

"No, just irritating." The duo sprinted at each other again, Yumi's katana flicking out to try and take another taste of Naruto's blood, but the blond moved a hair to his right, getting inside the thrust, then grabbing Yumi's wrist, turned into her, and launched the kunoichi over his shoulder.

Yumi felt shocked for a moment before shifting her weight to get her feet under her, gold eyes widening when a flurry of kunai flew at her. Once again, the sword in her hand flashed, knocking the weapons out of the air, landing in a skid, getting ready to stab at Naruto, who was running straight at her, looking determined.

'Useless' she though confidently, the keen blade sticking into the surprised blonde's chest.

He vanished in a burst of smoke.

"No!" Naruto burst from the smoke left by the Shadow Clone, driving his fist into Yumi's cheek, throwing her away to skid over the ground, tumbling head over heels, her sword arcing into the air, which Naruto caught, red chakra surging up his arm to heat the blade till it glowed cherry-red, then the blond bent it into a U shape.

Yumi sat up, then threw herself flat again as her deformed sword spun at her. When she stood up, she noticed that Naruto had used the brief interval to snatch up his katana.

"Well you have the advantage," the red-clad kunoichi said with a smirk. To her surprise, Naruto summoned his scabbard and slammed the blade home then resealed the katana. "What's this? Don't tell me you actually plan to fight fair?"

Naruto smirked. "It wouldn't mean anything if I didn't."

"Oh? Never took you to be such a boy-scout, Naru-chan." Naruto's response was to dash straight at her again, leaping into the air, forcing Yumi to shield her eyes from the sun as she watched, the jumping genin corkscrewing in flight to crash down on the arm Yumi used to block.

The blonde's hands danced on the ground, spinning around in a handstand to slam his other leg into her shoulder, knocking her off balance before Naruto collapsed into a spin, sweeping Yumi of her feet, rolling to avoid the impact of Naruto's follow-up axe kick.

Yumi kicked up to her feet before spinning to face the blond. She wiped a thin sheen of sweat from her brow.

"Wow, not bad."

The Jinchuuriki's response was to fling a kunai at her, which Yumi caught with a deft flick of her hand.

"A kunai? You've got to be kidding me!"

Naruto grinned. There was an explosion and the smoke bomb that the blond had wedged in the ring of the knife went off, obscuring the surprised kunoichi in a cloud of white smoke. She swore as viciously as Naruto himself did sometimes, then zeroed in on a bright blue dot that traveled up into the air.

The smoke cleared for a moment, revealing Naruto descending on her with a bright sphere of swirling chakra clenched in his grip.

"**Rasengan**!"

Yumi grinned then made a seal. "First Gate!" Naruto blinked, wishing he could speed up his descent but knowing that it was impossible. "Kai!" The Rasengan exploded as it hit the ground where Yumi had been standing there just an instant before.

"Dammit!"

"Too bad, so sad, Naru-chan!" A foot flew from nowhere and snapped his head over, sending him tumbling over the ground, much as he'd done to Yumi earlier. Before he could get his wits back, another vicious kick to the spine sent him skyward. "Wow, still slow, huh?" Yumi asked from behind him.

Red chakra flared around Naruto then coalesced into a claw, batting her away with a brief hiss as the scalding youki made contact with her bare arm. Both ninja twirled and twisted to land on their feet, the nebulous chakra vanishing, though the kunoichi knew that the threat of the chakra returning was very real.

Yumi blinked when she found herself staring into demonic crimson eyes.

She grinned, her killing intent beginning to intensify along with the temperature. She also could feel the blood lust of the Kyuubi beginning to leak into the air as well, like a foul scent or the tingly, tickling presence that danced along the edges of perception, neither material nor a figment of imagination.

Both fighters stared each other down for a moment then vanished, only reappearing to clash together before bouncing apart again, faster and faster until the stadium was filled with the thunderous clashes that followed on the heels of one another so fast that it was impossible to tell where one left off and another began.

Only the higher-ranked jounin and more powerful chuunin were able to tell just where the two were at, but it didn't matter because they appeared in freefall, hands flying together in seal after seal.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" There was an explosion, and when it cleared, it revealed the ground of the area, from the dirt to the tree tops, filled to bursting with Naruto and Yumi clones, each one looking ready to do battle.

"This should get interesting," Tsunade remarked to no one in particular.

There was silence, spiraling chakra and rising killing intent, then the mass of red, orange, and black surged forward and clashed before becoming a whirl of color, punctuated here and there by blooms of smoke that quickly escalated.

Amid the chaotic hurricane of movement and smoke was the two originals, who by some coincidence known only to fate and the Kami, had found each other. Yumi dashed forward, right hand speeding for Naruto's face. He stepped in, pushing the hit away before launching one of his own. His steely red eyes narrowed as Yumi used that fist as leverage, doing a handstand for a moment before dropping, heels aimed at Naruto's chest.

The blonde threw himself backwards, touching his fingertips to the ground for a brief moment as hard leather passed mere centimeters from his nose, close enough for him to feel the body heat wash over him. The former missing-nin kicked up and over, trying to mimic the other shinobi and slam his feet into her skull, the bottom of his sandals glowing red-hot with youki, coming right at her like a branding iron.

Yumi twisted, getting clear, touching down to skid away, knowing that she had the advantage since she was at his back. She pulled out the scroll from her fight with Konohamaru, unsealing a sickle with a ball and chain, whipping the sickle end at the blond, who looked surprised when the blade suddenly wound up protruding from his chest.

Naruto fell forward, thudding to the ground with a finality that echoed throughout the arena, which had gone dead silent at the ferocity of the battle so far, since it seemed that both parties were evenly matched.

Yumi waited a moment to see if Naruto was getting back up. When the blond didn't stir, she stood with a victorious smirk on her face.

"Too bad, Naru-chan," she said to the corpse. "I guess you just didn't have it in you to beat me again."

Genma looked down at the lifeless genin with a gaze that might've almost been pity. He'd sort of liked the rambunctious shinobi when he'd been in the exams the first time. The kid's triumph over the frozen genius had been one for the record books, but as much as Genma wanted it, it didn't look as if the former missing-nin would be standing up some time soon.

His hand raised. "Winner…"

There was a sound like ice snapping on a frozen lake, then the ground at Yumi's feet exploded outward, a shadowy figure shot from below, the fist driving up into the kunoichi's jaw, lifting her off her feet and sending her smashing into the wall in a gout of debris and powderized concrete.

Astonished murmurs filled the air like the hissing embers of a dying flame as the spectators wondered how Naruto had done it. Yumi staggered out from the cloud of settling dust with a look that said she was going to kill Naruto.

"How?"

Naruto smirked. "I had an extra clone hidden away during that little war. I switched with him at the last moment."

"But that clone should've dispelled!" Yumi almost sounded like she was whining about what had happened.

Naruto outright grinned. "I put a little extra chakra into the clone. He could take way more damage than usual." As if to prove his point, the limp Naruto on the ground puffed out of existence, leaving Yumi's sickle laying in its place, which she called back to her hand with a deft flick of the wrist.

The crowd grew silent as the two prepared to attack each other once again. Yumi knew she was at the disadvantage now. Naruto had an immense amount of stamina, and with the youki enhancing it, this could get very ugly very fast.

She had to end this in one shot, though she didn't have an end-all jutsu like Naruto did, but she was an excellent shot with weapons and the like. She was one of the great weapon masters in the world and she would need every ounce of that skill now. Again she reached for the scroll, sealed away her sickle, then summoned a new weapon, a staff with a spearhead on each end.

It was a rather exotic weapon, one not really used by shinobi or samurai or even mercenaries, but rather by the warrior monks that lived high in Mountain Country, who were all ruthlessly deadly with it. It was said that even Akatsuki thought twice about screwing with the monks.

She removed the sheaths that capped each blade, making sure that she didn't allow herself to be nicked by the keen edge that seemed to catch the light and radiate it out. There was a poison on the blades, one so potent in fact, that it was even rumored to be able to kill a Bijou with enough hits.

The poison itself was a secret mix that only a select few shinobi in the world knew the exact mix, and those who did often guarded it like their own child and more than a few took the secret to their graves. How Yumi had gotten her hands on it was a mystery even to her, since Sasame had been in charge at the time, but the fact was that she'd gotten it and now Naru-chan would feel the full fury of it.

A few experimental swings and spins to test the balance and Yumi leveled it at the blond.

"Come on," she said confidently.

'**Careful, brat,'** The Kyuubi said, sounding, in Naruto's opinion, almost nervous. **'I can smell poison on that blade, one deadly even to us demons.'**

'What!?'

Yumi lunged, thrusting. Naruto dodged, then found himself on the receiving end of a blitz as the red-clad kunoichi, thrust, spun, kicked, lunged, thrust again and again, reversed, keeping him on the defensive. The attacks were flowing easily and rapidly, keeping him from finding an opening or even getting his balance for an attack.

'This isn't good.'

'**Oh, you think? Here, use this.'** Naruto's senses seemed to come alive as he felt more youki surge through his system, energizing his muscles and getting him to move faster.

Again, only the higher-ups in the crowd were able to tell what was going on as Naruto and Yumi danced around each other, desperately trying to hit or not to get hit.

The staff passed an inch over the blonde's shoulder, but he only spared a quick glance before he shot forward, only to skid to a stop and bounce back, flinging some shuriken to cover himself as Yumi flipped the staff and whirled it so fast it was nothing but a blur, the second blade coming close enough for the Jinchuuriki to hear it slice the air, the stars clinking harmlessly of the hurricane of wood and metal.

Naruto wanted to scream in frustration. Yumi had the range, and thus, the advantage. The staff was much longer than Naruto's reach, which meant that the kunoichi could shred him into tonight's sashimi while staying perfectly unharmed herself. Shuriken and kunai also seemed to be worthless as her skill was such that she could knock them out of the air with barely a thought, something he'd only seen Tenten do until now.

The spear-staff flew at him.

Naruto blinked then threw his body sideways, pushing so much youki into his feet that he actually turned the ground beneath his sandals to glass. He was off balance when he did it though, and rammed his shoulder into the wall of the arena, which was looking more and more like it would come down at any minute, since Moegi had set off a bunch of explosive tags on it, Konohamaru had been put _in_ it, as had Yumi, and that was just scratching the surface.

Yumi gave a tug, the wire she'd tied onto the end of the staff's handle glinting as it soared back to her, deftly catching and whirling it back to a ready stance.

Naruto grinned. He had a plan. Whispering to Kyuubi, he pretended to tug fruitlessly to free his arm, which he'd instinctively flung out to catch his impact with the wall. Kyuubi snickered and complied, both demon and Jinchuuriki grinning when they thought of how much Yumi would be surprised in a few moments.

Sure enough, the kunoichi charged, looking thrilled at the prospect of getting to run Naruto through and kill both him and Kyuubi.

She leapt into the air, looking almost joyful at Naruto's impending doom.

A spot on the wall glowed bright red, as if something was heating the barrier from behind. A second later, the spot burst outward, like a bubble in a lava flow bursting, and from it shot a massive red claw.

"Shit!" Yumi cursed as she brought her staff up to guard, allowing the claw to slam into her with enough force to make her arms go numb and slam her into the other side of the arena, right next to where she'd thrown that brat friend of the blonde's.

The Jinchuuriki tugged, his demonic claw tearing a furrow in the wall of the stadium as it was ripped free, then nebulous crimson youki enveloped him and he thrust his other arm forward, a second claw shooting at Yumi, who managed to shove off the first and roll along the wall to dodge, but she was brought up short when the first claw changed course and slammed into the wall right in front of her, the first claw closing up so she was sandwiched between them.

The arms tightened, like a chain about to haul up an anchor, and sure enough, Naruto was speeding feet first toward her, with a snarl on his face that seemed to freeze her legs in place.

Spectators and Kages alike gripped their seats as a massive explosion erupted below them, the smoke cloud filling the arena, hiding the outcome from them. Two pillars spiked from the top of the cloud, two red figures emerging, one in red clothing, the other seemed to be bathed in fire.

The battle heated up again as the two dueled in free-fall, Naruto's claws lancing out again and again as Yumi contorted and twisted, staff spinning in a constant blur, guiding the chakra claws past her and also fighting off the appendages that sprouted from the arms of the crimson energy like a mutant plant.

The two main claws shot past the falling kunoichi again, then two new claws sprouted from them, effectively trapping the woman in their grasp. With a sizzle that was clearly heard around the silent arena, Yumi was caught up in their grip, the woman screaming as her exposed flesh was instantly seared and burned by the fiery youki. The secondary claws drew back and flung her straight down into the ground with enough force to rock the entire village.

Naruto touched down, his claws retracting as he settled into a stance that Tenten had showed him.

'**BEHIND YOU!'**

Kyuubi's scream gave Naruto an instant migraine that made it feel like his head was splitting down the middle but he reacted, twisting to the side, by instinct forming a Rasengan in his hand, driven into his head by countless ambushes as a missing-nin. He grunted in pain as Yumi's spear-staff bit viciously at his arm, then he was clear, his hand snapping forward.

* * *

Yumi was dazed. She had been keeping her gate open ever since the beginning, trying to overwhelm that damned blond she was fighting. That had been the biggest mistake she'd ever made. Despite all her efforts, Naruto had forced her to fight on his terms, a long and drawn-out match that had taxed her stamina to its limits. During the brief times that Sasame and Yumi had talked, Sasame had always told her other personality that she was too reckless, though Yumi had always laughed it off. Now she was seeing that maybe the happier personality had a point.

As it was, she was burned, the skin on her arms blackened and already blistering, even in the dank and cool crater she was currently residing in. Blood leaked into her eye from a cut on her forehead and she felt like she was going to throw up, probably from a concussion. Naruto and his damned demon had thrown her headfirst into the hard rock after all. That was what Konoha was known for. Despite having one of the most beautiful forests in the world, its soil was clay and often had boulders buried in it.

She felt like she had hit one of those things when she'd been buried. To top it off, her staff, her precious staff, was snapped in half and one of the blades had shattered. She knew that from the slivers of silver that were resting on her body like small needles. Thankfully, none of them had broken her skin; otherwise she would've been dead now, not even able to lament her mistakes.

If there was one silver lining in this cloud, it was that she still had one blade left and enough of the handle to use it as a sword. She would win this. She would kill Naruto. The scar on her back seemed to pulse in response to her anger, the pain waking her up. It was time.

She made a few hand seals, keeping her chakra as suppressed as she could. The earth beneath her rippled and distorted and she sank into it, crawling on all fours through the dank and dark earth, relying on her senses to guide her to where she thought Naruto would be. To her surprise, the heat from the Kyuubi's youki had leeched into the ground, so she was able to get behind him. She set herself up for the attack, holding her staff's remains tightly she prepared to shoot up through the earth and impale the Jinchuuriki through the lungs. Yumi tried to keep her bloodlust under control. The killing intent would alert Naruto to where she was and that was something she didn't need.

The blond hadn't shifted for the past few seconds. It was now or never. She coiled her muscles like a panther about to attack its prey, and jumped, shooting straight up through the ground, bursting into daylight, her spear held out.

To her shock and surprise, her target spun, a Rasengan flaring to life in his hand, his crimson eyes boring into hers, but she smirked in victory as she noticed her blade bite into his arm, a glancing blow, but it was enough. The poison was in Naruto's system and the chances were that he wouldn't live through the day.

Then the Rasengan slammed into her gut and she knew no more.

* * *

"YUMI!" Now it was Ayame's turn to shout out a name as Naruto's jutsu slammed into her sister's stomach, drilling a hole the size of a baseball into the kunoichi's flesh. It didn't look that bad, but right after he'd hit Yumi and burrowed in, the woman's back had burst open, a huge spray of blood shooting out to cover the ground.

Naruto tried not to hurl his breakfast all over Yumi's face, even if it would've added insult to injury. His hand was buried up to the base of his fingers in the kunoichi's stomach, blood gushing out and covering his hand in a crimson tide, though that wasn't the issue. What _was_ the issue, however, was that his fingers were currently buried in her intestines, and _that_ was making him want to hurl. With a wet sucking noise, he pulled his hand free, Yumi slumping forward onto the ground without a noise, blood pooling beneath her as it leaked from the hole drilled into her abdomen.

Ayame was down on the floor of the arena in the blink of an eye, checking her sister's pulse. Tears started running down her cheeks as she pulled away, and stood up, her mouth moving soundlessly, probably speaking last words to her sister. Her hand clenched, balling into a fist and killing intent filled the air like a fog, hanging like a moist blanket over the arena.

She glared at Naruto hatred, livid rage, and a desire for revenge flashing through her eyes one after another, her chakra reacting to her emotions and spiking high, to those who could sense chakra feeling like a geyser that never seemed to quit.

Naruto, however, caught an underlying tinge that reminded him of something, something he should've known well and intimately, but he just couldn't place it for the life of him.

'**So, _that's_ it huh?' **Kyuubi remarked. **'I was wondering what it would be.'**

'What are you talking about, furball?' The blond cage said to his tenant, not in the mood for the demon's word games.

The genin could _feel_ the demon's grin. **'You'll see. Looks like we might get more than we bargained for here.'**

Naruto sighed. 'Never try to get a straight answer out of a demon fox.'

Ayame's growl cut into the pair's conversation. "Uzumaki Naruto, I'm going to _kill _you!"

She brushed a hand across her seals and called a pair of kunai into her hands before throwing one and running right behind it.

Naruto drew a kunai of his own.

"Great, here we go again."

* * *

That's the end of the chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. I know Naruto's been poisoned, and that's going to come up later in the fights, so just be patient on that. Other than that, R&R please and thanks to all of you who've reviewed, favorited and put it on your alert list. It really makes my day. I know this fight may have been lackluster, but once the story ends I think I'll go back and rewrite some of the chapters that I think need the most work, so look forward to that. Well that's all I got, so have a good day, evening, morning, depending on which time zone you happen to be in and I'll see you next chapter.


	18. Birds of A Feather

Disclaimer: Own nothing but Ayame and Sasame.

**I KNOW THE NINE BIJUU HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED, BUT THIS FIC WAS STARTED BEFORE THAT SO NEEDLESS TO SAY, IT'S AU**

Let's get right to it, shall we?

* * *

_Ayame's growl cut into the pair's conversation. "Uzumaki Naruto, I'm going to kill you!"_

_She brushed a hand across her seals and called a pair of kunai into her hands before throwing one and running right behind it._

_Naruto drew a kunai of his own._

_"Great, here we go again."_

* * *

The first hurled kunai was deflected in a shower of sparks. Ayame had sent chakra surging into her muscle right as she'd thrown, increasing the force several fold, so much so that Naruto actually stumbled, cursing fluently as he frantically tried to bring his knife to bear and block Ayame's rush.

There was a burst of sparks as the two shinobi's weapons met and scraped off each other, the blond shinobi, already off balance, thrown to the ground in a heap, though he vaulted back to his feet only seconds later.

'Damn! That made my arm go numb!' he noted as he watched the limb tremble and shake, as if his very bones were ringing with the force of the impact. He put a hand on the arm to stop the shaking, then blinked in surprise. 'My arm's hot?' Then he remembered.

"Yumi's poison," he growled. "Dammit."

"That's right," Ayame snarled. "Even if you killed her, Yumi's poison will kill you slowly. Even a person like you has no hope. This poison is specifically keyed to spread faster if it comes into contact with youki."

'She's bluffing.'

'**No, she's not,'** the Kyuubi answered grimly. **'It's a poison from a bygone age. It spreads slowly at first, but once it comes in contact with a high enough level of youki, it spreads fast.'**

'How?'

'**It's a poison that was used long ago by demon hunters. In order to even the playing field when fighting a Jinchuuriki, they would poison the host in the hope that the host wasn't suicidal and didn't want to die so the host would be reluctant to draw on his or her demon's chakra.'**

'Hey! What about the mixed chakra!' Naruto cried, alarmed. 'Won't that set off the poison!?'

'**It shouldn't since the youki is diluted by your chakra.'**

'Good. So…how long do we have till it speeds up and we bite it.'

Kyuubi scowled. **'Wow, don't sound so relaxed. My guess is a few hours. Thankfully, the clans that controlled some of the Bijuu way back in the day developed an antivenom. By some miracle, it's been passed into a few of the villages, Konoha being one of them.'**

'And who would know the antidote?'

'**Probably that old hag.'**

'So you're telling me to end this in a few hours then get in to see Baa-chan before the poison reaches the lethal level and kills us both.'

'**Simple right?'**

'I hate you.'

Then the blond was forced to dodge as Ayame renewed her assault, flinging shuriken, kunai, senbon, whatever she could draw on, as fast as she could, forcing Naruto to start running.

Leaning forward, arms trailing his body and serious cyan eyes fixed on his opponent, Naruto moved as fast as he could, just managing to stay one step ahead of the volley of weapons.

Naruto managed to pluck a shuriken from his holster and he leapt into the air, soaring high enough to get the sun behind him. Ayame was forced to shade her eyes, which the other warrior wanted.

The shuriken flicked from his fingers and Naruto's hands flew through a set of seals. "**Ninpou! Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**"

There was a tremendous burst of smoke and one shuriken became many. Another hand seal later and the hail of steel rained down on Ayame, who was driven back, scooping a discarded kunai from the ground in an attempt to stave off the steel rain. She was, through the use of constant movement and a quick kunai arm, able to stave off the worst, though a few glancing blows did catch her.

Blood ran in crimson rivulets down her arms and one scratch on her shoulder soaked the blue silk of her dress a deeper blue. She skidded backward, stopping her momentum then her red eyes widened when Naruto blurred into being in front of her, a silvery ball of chakra spinning in his hand as he tapped the sphere in random places.

"**Fuuton! Rasengan!**"

Ayame just managed to clear the charging shinobi before his hand burrowed into the wall then the Rasengan exploded, tearing a massive crater out of the concrete and sending hurricane winds spiraling out from the impact, knocking Ayame off balance.

There was silence as Naruto wrenched his hand free, debris crumbling to the ground as he rounded on his opponent.

Wind whipped over the arena then the pair vanished to all but the strongest of shinobi, showers of sparks filling the air like fireworks accompanied by the ring of clashing steel.

They reappeared at almost the same instant, skidding, as if they'd clashed so hard that they'd bounced apart like a rubber ball slamming into a brick wall. As if to back up the theory, two notched kunai stuck in the weapon-littered ground between the shinobi.

"Not too bad," Ayame quipped as she straightened up.

"What can I say?" Naruto returned with a smirk. "I was taught by the best."

"I tried."

'So, there is some history between the two,' Tsunade thought from her position high up in the box as she watched the duel below. Before now, she'd only thought that Naruto had known Ayame through her hunting him, but it appeared that they'd actually had some kind of relationship before the whole affair went south. 'Something more than a mere policy.'

The kunoichi below and the blond began circling each other.

"Can't we stop this, Ayame?" Naruto asked. "Just once, for old times sake."

"Keh, stupid blond. You know the laws of the village. Once you enter you cannot leave and any deserters must be hunted and killed like the cowards they are."

"Didn't I tell you and Sasame that I had no intent to stay in the village? You knew I was just looking for leads on Sasuke." One eyebrow raised, "Or is it that you're pissed at me for leaving?"

"I'm only doing my duty!" The other shouted, but she couldn't hide the faint color that appeared on her features, though if it was from rage or embarrassment, Naruto couldn't tell. "This is only about killing you and avenging my sister, nothing more, nothing less."

"Yeah right," Naruto murmured, but he made sure it was soft enough that the volatile woman across from him couldn't hear. Ayame was a skilled kunoichi and though she had a vicious temper, she used it to sharpen her skill to a deadly edge. Pissing her off was _not_ a good idea since the madder she got, the stronger and more vicious she seemed to become.

They launched at each other again, scooping kunai from their fallen places on the ground. As he swung, Naruto winced as a hot poker of pain surged its way up the arm that had been poisoned by Yumi. His fingers loosened for just a second, but it was enough and with two deft strokes, Ayame knocked the knife from his hand then laid a long gash over his chest, the orange cloth of the blonde's T-shirt becoming a deep crimson.

They bounced apart, Naruto flinging himself backwards in an attempt to get as much distance as he could in order to look over his injuries and see how much farther he could push it.

'Damn poison,' he hissed in his head as his left hand rubbed up and down his right arm. The skin around the cut was inflamed, hot to the touch, an angry red and swollen. Naruto had had to learn basic and advanced first aid during his mercenary missions, though he never used it himself. It was mostly for the people he captured or his teammates, whoever they happened to be.

"The swelling's gone towards my wrist," he muttered, further prodding his arm. "This isn't good. Twenty minutes, tops, and I'll be down one right arm."

'**Better end it soon, then.'**

'We could use the tails and end it fast,' the blond Jinchuuriki suggested.

'**We could,'** Kyuubi said slowly, **'but it would be a big risk. We would have to hope that the old hag can recognize what it is and stop it before it's too late.' **The massive demon cocked his head, looking down at Naruto with one angry red eye. **'Or we could use the Rasenshuriken.'**

'Or Isukumi.'

"Hey!" Ayame shouted as she launched a volley of shuriken. "Quit zoning out!" Naruto grunted, dropping to a crouch before vaulting into the air with his legs and arms, gritting his teeth against the fire that surged up his arm again. He snatched two stars out of the attack that passed beneath him, grabbed two more out of one of the pouches on his belt then hurled all four back at Ayame.

She ducked beneath the spinning weapons the leapt at Naruto, who was on his way back down and all but vulnerable.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**!" he shouted. There was a puff of smoke and a clone appeared under Naruto's feet which he used as a springboard to push himself even higher into the air and away from the kunoichi below him. Ayame's crimson eyes widened when the clone snagged her ankle as she passed by then wrapped itself around her like a python, pinning her limbs.

'Shit! I'm wide open!'

Naruto summoned another clone which used a Henge to transform into a folding shuriken that opened with a snap of the wrist and left his hand, spinning like a tornado at the kunoichi who was powerless to stop it.

'Damn!' the remaining Kusajishi sister thought, 'I'm gonna die!'

That thought woke up the sleeping power that Kyuubi had sensed the moment they met. The first thing that happened was rage, a scalding tide of white-hot anger, swept over Ayame as she thought of her early years with her sister, living on the street and being attacked by strangers, then meeting Naruto and finally realizing that she wasn't alone in the world, then his betrayal by leaving the village of missing-nin. All the painful memories Ayame had flooded her psyche, making a pained and angry scream tear itself from her throat.

Lavender chakra surged from her body like a typhoon, dispelling the clone and the shuriken and knocking the real Naruto into the wall, a sizeable cloud of debris erupting from where his body impacted the barrier.

The blond was quick to leap from the hole and onto the top of the abused fortification, watching, stunned, as Ayame floated to the ground as softly as a feather in a spring breeze.

"No way!" Sakura shouted, as her sensei and Gaara both leaned forward in their chairs. "That's just like Naruto!"

Indeed, the medic was right. The rage that filled the air like a palpable entity was indeed like Naruto when he drew on Kyuubi's youki. The big difference was that that color was lavender, like Ayame's hair, and instead of a searing heat that could melt even the hardest rock, there was a howling wind that tore at the spectator's body like some massive creature's talons.

Ayame's purple chakra began to take on a shape, slowly forming the outline of some massive creature that most were able to identify as a falcon or eagle once they stared at it for a few seconds. Soon even that was unnecessary as the shape became distinct. The kunoichi crouched in the center of the maelstrom, holding her arms like a bird's wings had replaced her limbs, the head of the chakra standing out proudly above Ayame's own.

"Jinchuuriki," Naruto murmured as he watched, with a shocked, almost horrified look in his eyes. "Ayame's…a Jinchuuriki!?"

'**Yes.'**

'You knew didn't you.' Naruto said simply. It wasn't a question or an accusation, just a simple statement.

'**Yes. I sensed her youki the moment you laid eyes on her.'**

'Why didn't you tell me?'

'**Because of who she contains.' **Before Naruto could ask who, the fox demon continued. **'She's the host for the Rokubi no Taka, the six-tailed falcon. Rokubi is notoriously lazy, though when she gets pissed, well, it's better not to make her mad.'**

'The demon's a girl?'

'**Yep, and this might actually be more dangerous because of it.'**

'Why?'

'**Ever heard the phrase Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?'**

'Yeah, and what does that have to do with this?' Kyuubi coughed and Naruto had to blink. The fox was acting awkward and unsure about this situation and that was something that never happened. Then it hit him. 'Did you two have a relationship or something?'

'**You could say that. I saw it as an amusing way to waste my time. Somehow she got it into her head that I was serious and when I came out and said she annoyed me…well, it wasn't pretty. Rokubi's vain, even for a Bijuu.'**

'But you're Kyuubi! The biggest and baddest demon, right? So we use six tails and fight on even terms.'

'**Damn you're stupid,' **the demon remarked, ignoring the outraged shouting that followed. **'A demon's tails are only a general indicator. There are other factors in deciding who's strongest.'**

'Like what?'

'**Like skill with the youki, compatibility with the host, bloodlust, intelligence, luck. You know, variables like what decide human matches.'**

'I don't get it.'

Kyuubi sighed, muttering a remark about dumb blondes then elaborated. **'Okay, Shukaku was the Ichibi right? You would think he was the weakest, but he had a host who knew how to use the youki and they both had the bloodlust. Now look at the Gobi. He had no host and was pretty stupid to top it all off. If it came down to a duel between the two, Shukaku would've won. Get it now?'**

'I think so. You're saying that it takes more than raw power to be a demon. And with this Rokubi chick's vendetta against you and Ayame's hatred for me…'

'**This will not be an easy match to win.'**

'Great. And we have to hold off on using youki until we're sure we won't die immidiatly.' As if to reinforce the fact, Naruto's arm, and to his dismay his shoulder too, gave a particularly painful twinge.

Below, the chaos was beginning to abate somewhat, allowing everyone a full view of Ayame. She was almost a shadow in the lavender chakra, which was beyond doubt a falcon now, a falcon with three tail feathers sticking out behind it. The falcon had vivid eyes that were darker than the rest of the chakra, but Naruto managed to catch a good glimpse of Ayame. It chilled him to the bone.

Her eyes were no longer crimson, but a hard violet and they were looking straight at him. For a moment, the blond felt uncertain, and almost terrified, like he was a rabbit being hunted by a bird of prey.

'Is this what Isukumi feels like?' Naruto wondered briefly, before dismissing the thought and working out how to deal with the menace below him. He looked around for the moving shadows that were the ANBU, and he caught fleeting glimpses of them as they moved into position, but to his surprise there was no sudden attack. The blond glanced at Baa-chan, who returned his gaze with her own before nodding ever so slightly.

She was letting him handle this.

"Well," he said to himself, "here goes nothing!"

With that, Naruto threw himself off of the wall, falling towards the stadium floor, feeling Rokubi and Ayame's eyes on him the entire time.

His right hand brushed the gash on his chest, his arm screaming at him the entire time and Naruto noted in the back of his mind that the redness had spread to just above his wrist and just below his elbow. The blonde's hands folded together into the sequence for one of his strongest jutsu, then he thrust the bloodied hand out in front of him.

"**Ninpou! Kuchiyose no Jutsu**!" He felt chakra leave him like a rocket, leaving with enough force to actually slow him down a hair before there was an explosion below him and Naruto fell into the cloud.

He landed on something soft but it was still hard enough to hurt.

"OW!" yelped the thing he landed on. "What the hell?"

The smoke cleared and revealed Naruto laying spread eagle on the back of a red toad that was about the size of the Rokubi.

The toad scratched at the pain on its head and dislodged Naruto, who slid down its side and thudded to the ground. Apparently he'd been knocked unconscious by the impact with the toad because he sat up, livid.

"Hey! Who the hell dropped me!?" He demanded, and then noticed the toad, which noted him at the same time.

"Naruto?" The toad asked, looking puzzled before laughing happily. "Naruto! Hey, good to see you again! Dad said you were back, but I didn't believe him!"

"Hey Gamakichi," Naruto answered with a laugh, folding his arms behind his head. "You've gotten bigger." The son of the boss toad had been a small little squirt when Naruto had first met him, then after his three years of training; the toad had grown to a little taller than Naruto. Now the toad was around eight feet tall at the shoulder.

"Yeah, I sure have. So, do you need help with that thing over there?" Gamakichi asked, nodding at the Rokubi, who was sitting patiently, though Naruto was beginning to pick up the small signs of agitation, like a small twitch of the neck, ruffling of feathers, that kind of thing.

"You got it. So, how about it?"

Gamakichi looked like he was having second thoughts as he sized up the demon across from him. "You owe me a lot of candy after this."

Naruto laughed as he vaulted onto the toad's back. "I'll take you to Ichiraku after the exam, how about that?"

"I guess…"

Rokubi let out a shrieking call, like something that would come from a falcon or hawk and flapped its wings, sending a gust of biting wind over the other two, forcing them to hunker down and kicking up a cloud that hid Rokubi and Ayame from view.

Some indescribable force slashed through the smoke and haze, slicing Gamakichi and Naruto up all over their bodies before lifting the heavy toad off his feet and flinging him to the wall.

"Damn!" Gamakichi cursed. "The hell was that?"

"No idea," Naruto answered as he stood, tagged two kunai and got ready to throw. "Split the defense!"

"Right!" The toad's legs coiled then he bounced into the air, clearing even the pinnacle of the Hokage's box. Naruto watched as his partner hit the top of his jump and began to come back down.

"Now!"

His arm flashed and the two kunai went speeding on their way towards the demon that stood with its wings still extended like it was already victorious. Rokubi seemed almost puzzled by the attacks before her wings flapped mightily, creating another hurricane breeze, this one catching the speeding kunai and flinging them back at Naruto.

"Dammit!"

He dove to the side to try and get out of the way but the kunai went off right behind him, catching him in the blast wave and throwing the genin into a copse of trees. That burst of wind was strong enough to lift Rokubi from her spot, then another flap and she took off like a jet fighter, speeding to meet Gamakichi who managed to twist and evade but was knocked off balance by the disturbed air current behind the speeding youkai.

The son of Gamabunta slammed to earth in a massive cloud, obscuring the field in a heavy blanket of dust.

Above it all, Rokubi soared like some creature from the deepest depths of Hades, her violet eyes flicking from side to side as she tried to find her prey again, egged on relentlessly by Ayame's voice, which was almost screaming for Naruto's head on a platter. Normally the kunoichi wouldn't have been quite that violent, but she was caught up in the rush of dark emotions that stemmed from being submerged in youki.

The smoked and chaos below had yet to subside, but that didn't seem to stop the flying demon, who gave another shriek and flapped again, this time sending blades of wind, much like Temari was fond of doing, down into the arena floor, creating a multitude of secondary explosions.

The wind that came with the blades cleared the haze and revealed Gamakichi, his body scored and lacerated with bleeding wounds, laying immobile on the arena floor. Naruto had been spared the brunt of the assault since the trees shielded him from the worst of it, though he still had some new scratches and his right arm was flopping limply, though it was all red and inflamed. It wasn't unusable…yet, but it hurt Naruto too much to move it excessively. Apparently his estimation of how long the poison took to spread was rather liberal. Not fifteen minutes had passed and already his arm was close to gone.

Though, his lifespan was probably even more limited with that purple menace hanging overhead. At least Tsunade had ordered the evacuation of the stadium. Even now, with a predatory youkai hanging overhead, the stands were slowly emptying as the ANBU and jounin in the crowd led the spectators down and out into the street, though it was probable that they would simply find a bunch of rooftops to gather on to watch the finale.

"Gamakichi!" Naruto shouted as he reached his friend's side. "Hey! Wake up!"

Slowly the huge toad stirred, to Naruto's immense relief. Gamabunta would've squashed him if anything happened to his son. One yellow eye opened. "N-Naruto," the toad wheezed, pain clear in every word. Dark blood ran down the toad's sides and soaked the haori he wore with the toad summons' clan symbol embroidered on it. "I'm sorry. T-That thing's just t-to much."

"Yeah. It's alright. Get out of here and take a rest. I'll bring you some ramen when you're better."

The toad smiled weakly then vanished in a burst of smoke.

Naruto felt vulnerable and alone without the summon by his side and purple death hanging overhead.

'Great,' Naruto wondered. 'Now what?' Rokubi was hanging some three hundred feet above the top of the wall. Even if he climbed the Hokage's box and vaulted from the spire that crowned it, he wouldn't make the leap. He _could_ use Kyuubi's youki to latch onto the other demon's belly but that would be unwise as it would speed the poison and that was something that would be very bad.

Gamabunta was an option, but that toad was crotchety on the best of days, though he might be more willing to help since Gamakichi was so beat up. The boss toad would've heard all about the battle and would be raring to have a crack at Rokubi. Or he wouldn't come at all, as he would want to stay by his son's side. No, Gamabunta would be too unpredictable at a time like this.

Maybe he could adapt the Rasenshuriken to be thrown? Nah, that would take more chakra control than he had.

A long range fire jutsu then…No, Rokubi would just blow it out like a candle at some kid's birthday party.

Naruto was running out of ideas when Rokubi, floating high above the arena, shrieked and dove, speeding for the blond like a bullet. Naruto didn't waste any time in turning around and hauling ass the other way, knowing he couldn't outrun the demon, but he wasn't trying to.

He reached the wall and stuck to it, sprinting straight up it and clearing Rokubi by the narrowest of margins. The demon's girth shattered the wall like glass, ripping a massive hole. Naruto rebounded from chunk to chunk until he reached the ground, looking up, horrified, as the demon didn't stop, instead tearing down the street for close to a mile before rocketing up into the air again.

'Why…' then he noticed that Rokubi had grown a fourth tail feather. 'Oh.' Up till now, the demon falcon had seemed content to only focus on him, but now with the addition of the fourth tail, the bird was ready to shred the village since Naruto wasn't providing a decent enough challenge.

The discordant cries of the wounded filled the air like a widow's wailing at her husband's funeral and the sound tore at Naruto's soul. He turned back towards the Hokage's box.

"Baa-chan!" He shouted. "I'm taking this outside the village!" Without waiting for an answer, he turned and sprinted away. Technically, he was disqualifying himself by leaving the arena's boundaries, but if it came down to an exam or the village, the village came first, all the time, every time.

He sped away, flinging tagged kunai at the demon which detonated harmlessly against the creature's chakra, but got it interested enough to pursue Naruto out of the village and into the forest surrounding Konoha.

Naruto burst into the sun again and found himself standing at craggy clearing, perfectly circular, and looking like it'd been drilled out as it had a slight grade to it.

'This is left over from one of Shukaku's air bullet things from my first exam!' Naruto realized as he turned around, hearing the rush of Rokubi's wings as it touched down behind him and regarded the blond with an almost curious gaze. The demon shuffled its wings then flapped, sending the blond tumbling head over heels until he got his feet under him and skidded to a stop.

They were within sight of the village but unless a full size demon appeared, the combat to come would only be barely distinguishable unless they could see a great distance.

"Knives and exploding tags don't hurt you," Naruto remarked. "You can blow away any summon or jutsu I throw at you and you'll slaughter the village without hesitation."

Rokubi had no answer, bird-like or otherwise.

"I guess that this is it," the blond continued. "I have no other choice." He peeled off his tattered orange shirt and let the ragged garment blow away in the wind that swept the barren landscape. The remains of the Yondaime's seal stood out in cold stark relief on Naruto's tan skin, like a tattoo that was natural. "It's time to introduce you to my demon."

That seemed to get a rise out of Rokubi as the falcon let off a rapid series of chirps and shrieks as if demanding an answer.

'**So, you're going to put our lives on the line in the hope that we can kill these two before the poison kills us?' **Kyuubi asked, already knowing the answer.

'Yeah.'

The fox sighed. **'Well alright. How much?'**

Naruto shrugged. 'She's your girlfriend, how much do you think?'

Kyuubi sighed. **'Five tails to start. If we need more then I'll let you know.'**

'Right.' The chakra around their feet shifted as blue sank beneath red, signifying Kyuubi taking control of Naruto's body.

Rokubi blinked then shrieked angrily as Naruto's eyes shifted from blue to red as his face became demon-like. Inside their shared mind, Naruto took control of his chakra and forced it to move. Outside, he seemed to be outlined with a thin blue light as he expelled chakra then made it cling tight to his body like a second skin.

Kyuubi sent his chakra an instant later.

Red power blasted outward, roiling and writhing in the air like tails before twisting together and laying itself down on the Jinchuuriki from which it came. The possessed blonde's wounds, including the one on his arm, hissed, steamed then closed. Within his body, Naruto felt like he'd been kicked in the stomach by Lee and Gai at the same time and the heat on his arm and shoulder began to expand in a way that he could feel.

'That'd be the poison activating. Here goes nothing.'

The Shiki Fuuin glowed like molten rock in response to the surge in youki as it took on the form of a fox, complete with paws, long ears, angry red eyes and even the beginnings of a muzzle. The blond slumped forward as if he was willing to fight either standing up or on all fours as a single long tail emerged, stretched to its greatest length then split at the tip like someone peeling a banana, the four splits traveling down the tail and becoming five.

The youki shone even brighter and Naruto's form was lost in the light, becoming nothing but a shadow against a setting sun, though his eyes remained as clear as ever. Then came the low, rumbling voice.

Kyuubi's voice.

"**Rokubi. It's been a while."**

The other demon let out a shriek in surprise and took to the air before letting loose another scathing blast of wind.

Kyuubi's crimson eyes widened with a maniacal glee and he blurred sideways, reappearing in a skidding crouch. He sprinted forward on all fours, causing a second wind attack to just miss the speeding fox's back.

He jumped into the air, one arm latching on to the ground behind him and the other shooting forward like a bullet to snag Rokubi's neck. A feral grin split the demon's face before he pulled both arms in and sent the demonic hawk smashing into the ground in a great cloud.

Not giving the other Bijuu time to recover, Kyuubi inhaled deeply, his chest bulging before exhaling, a massive gout of flame erupting from his mouth and speeding into to the dust.

The flame was incredible to behold. Gold, vivid red, orange and emerald were all rolled into one massive firestorm that set the sparse grasses alight and melted the very rock beneath it as it ran like a river through the air to the place where Rokubi might've been. When the attack hit, the river suddenly became a pillar light, color, and heat that stretched high into the sky and seemed to scorch the clouds that were drifting lazily overhead, bathing the clearing the pair were fighting in flickering colors and shadow.

The attack ceased, smoke rising in twin wisps from the corners of his mouth with a faint hiss as the demon grinned again, multi colored flames flickering like fiery gemstones all over the place, burning even on the rocks. Such was the nature of foxfire, which was said to be on even terms with the cursed fire of the Mangenkyou Sharingan, Amaterasu.

"**Come now, Rokubi," **the fox said scathingly, **"we both know that you're too powerful to fall to weak little ember." **Though his words and attack seemed confident, Kyuubi was in a hurry to end the fight and get back to the village. His borrowed body was waning fast as the now-activated poison spread rapidly through his system. The demon's entire right side was on fire with pain, not to mention his arm.

'**How are we doing, brat?'**

Naruto's reply was strained, though if was from the poison or the effort of continuously maintaining the buffer of chakra, the fox couldn't tell. 'So far…so…good,' Naruto grunted in response, 'though…a little…speed…would…be…appreciated!"

The fox was unable to answer because Ayame rose from the smoke and haze, without the cloak of her youki. Then the kunoichi's mouth opened and she spoke in a voice that didn't belong to her.

"**Kyuubi, still full of hot air I see."**

"**So," **said the other, **"your host has given you total control has she?"**

"**Yes, and with this control, I will end your legend here and now!"** Purple chakra burst from the ground beneath the other demon's feet, swirling and rippling like wind currents that had become visible, the light making the woman become a tattered shadow before she was lost in a whirl of chilling wind and youki.

* * *

Well that's that. Damn, for some reason these past few chapters just don't wanna come together, it's a pain in the ass! Anyway, despite whatever this chapter's lacking, fear not, the next chapter will end this and change the scene, which I think we would all enjoy. Oh, if you haven't checked my profile recently, I'm back at school and it's gonna be a wild ride, so don't worry if the updates don't slow down. I'm probably slaving away over a hot textbook.


	19. Demon Deathmatch

* * *

Disclaimer: Own nothing

Last time: Ayame turns out to be the host of Rokubi no Taka, the six tailed falcon.

This time: This Chuunin Arc ends and Naruto begins to see the consequences of his actions.

* * *

"**Yes, and with this control, I will end your legend here and now!"** Purple chakra burst from the ground beneath the other demon's feet, swirling and rippling like wind currents that had become visible, the light turning her into a ragged shadow of wind and youki.

* * *

The purple chakra became an inverted tornado, spewing high into the air before the middle bulged outward and expanded into massive wings. The chakra receded from the wings as the remaining whirlwind took on a more defined form.

Kyuubi watched impassively as the purple energy continued to withdraw.

"**So,"** he remarked. **"Taking this seriously are we?"**

The huge hawk, easily as large as Gaara's Shukakku form or Gamabunta slammed to earth, its wings, seemingly as mammoth as a mountain, folded to her sides, even that mere movement making the air billow outward and forcing the demon to crouch and cling to the ground.

* * *

Back at Konoha, the shinobi forces had assembled on the wall and even from their vantage point miles away, could see Rokubi sitting calmly among the trees.

"Tsunade-sensei," Sakura asked as the two Kages and their entourage arrived at the wall. "What do we do?"

The Hokage frowned as she looked at the massive raptor sitting in the forest. "There's nothing we can do." She said finally, getting looks from those arrayed around her. "That creature is a Bijuu, just like the Kyuubi. Unless any of you have a Jinchuuriki waiting and know the Shiki Fuuin, all we can do is hope that Naruto has a plan."

"But even Naruto's never faced something like this!" Shizune protested. "Besides, just what exactly happened over there? I wasn't aware that a Jinchuuriki could take full form like that!"

"It's possible," Gaara rasped. "I did it during my battle against Uzumaki Naruto and I've heard that the Hachibi and the Nibi were capable of it as well."

"Naruto could use Gamabunta," Sakura suggested hopefully. Tsunade was shaking her head even before her student finished.

"No. Gamabunta is famous for putting his kids before anything else. Even revenge comes secondary. That toad has a saying. 'Revenge is a dish best served cold'. He'll wait until his summoner bumps into the target again then he'll exact his revenge. Gamakichi was heavily wounded. There's no way Gamabunta will come if Naruto calls."

Rokubi's massive wings opened then flapped once and the entire horizon was altered, a dark cloud of dirt and rock springing up from the forest floor and even the clouds in the sky were blown away. There was a second of lag then the shock of the displaced air reached them, knocking more than one shinobi on his or her ass.

"I hope Uzumaki Naruto was able to live through that," Gaara said solemnly.

"So do I," answered the Fifth.

* * *

In fact, Naruto, or rather Kyuubi, had managed to live through the attack. The moment Rokubi's wings had started to open, he'd darted forward and sank his claws into her leg and began reeling himself in. He'd gotten under her just as the wings had flapped.

'**Naruto.'**

'Yeah?' the cage grunted.

'**Rokubi is too massive to take on like this.'** Kyuubi didn't need to finish. Naruto knew that no summon would be a match for the six tailed demon, or rather no one powerful enough would come should he call. Kyuubi had the power, but Rokubi had the mass right now. The falcon probably weighed several tons and just had more mass than they could deal with on their own.

'You're saying…'

'**Yeah. We need to do it.'**

Naruto's eyes dropped shut. He still couldn't handle the Kyuubi's full power. Despite being in physical form, the transformation still had chakra coursing through it. These beast forms were less flesh and blood and more like chakra made solid. That being said, it meant that the Jinchuuriki was still liable to be affected by whichever attribute their demon took after.

A water Bijuu would run the risk of drowning. A wind demon would run the risk of massive lacerations or a sudden vacuum sucking away their breath and a fire demon risked incineration as Kyuubi and Naruto had found out themselves.

'I'll last as long as I can. Go for it.'

There was a welling of power inside the Jinchuuriki, like a volcano was about to erupt within his body. The youki surged forth as an unstoppable river of lava and Naruto shouted with effort as he intensified the chakra barrier around his body.

Outside, Kyuubi became a ragged shadow, much as Rokubi had done, then the red youki surged forth, blasting out from the demon's body like so many tails or tentacles. The chakra spun and blasted high into the air, a crimson tornado that made the rock beneath it hiss and the trees around it burst into flame.

The villagers in Konoha were all suddenly rocked by a tremendous flash of killing intent so violent that that many hardened shinobi vets dropped to their knees, clutching their heads and screaming out in terror. A red glow lit the world near the Rokubi and smoke began to rise from the forest around it.

"Tsunade-sensei…" Sakura asked, choking on the words, as if her very lungs were being paralyzed. "What's this…chakra?"

Tsunade didn't answer. The Sannin was staring out over the leafy fields of trees with a tremendous sense of déjà vu.

"Tsunade-sama!" Kakashi shouted as he blurred from this air right next to her. The Copy-nin looked to be in a state of near panic. Tsunade couldn't blame him. After all, it was something similar to what'd happened the night Namikaze died.

An eerie shadow began to rise from the tree line. It was dark, with glowing red eyes like embers from a massive firestorm. Nine tails waved in the sky behind the creature, outlined in red with chakra.

A massive dark maw opened and a shrieking roar echoed across the village, shattering windows and making the very earth tremble, as if giants were stomping across it.

"The Kyuubi!" a hysterical ninja shrieked and the wall's top dissolved into chaos.

Indeed it was Kyuubi, in all his demonic glory. Fangs as long as a man lined a massive jaw that could bite the Hokage's tower in half with a single closing, nine tails that could summon fire and tsunamis in a single wave, claws that ripped furrows in the ground with an ease that would make any farmer jealous, but, despite that frightful presence, the demon's scariest features were his eyes.

They were bloodshot, catlike and glowed like lava in the dark. They would look at you and contemplate your demise while you just looked up at them, helpless, like a rabbit sighted by a hawk. You would piss your pants, empty your stomach and wish to die under that gaze. And most did, but if you were lucky enough to survive looking into Kyuubi's eyes and sane enough to tell the tale, you would be haunted in you nightmares for the rest of your life, jumping at every shadow, expecting to see red slitted eyes then the flash of ivory fangs glistening with saliva lunging at you.

"**So you've shown your true form, Kyuubi-sama," **said Rokubi. Even though she hated the nine tails with all her avian heart, no one, not even a fellow Bijuu, could look the fox in the face without attaching the honorific.

Kyuubi didn't deign to answer. The Lord of Demons simply crouched and leapt at her, nine tails trailing behind him, slapping the ground and causing it to shake, no, causing it to tremble, as if the earth itself feared Kyuubi's wrath.

'**But that doesn't matter. The King of All Demons is no match for me.'** Rokubi thought with a huff. She flapped her wings and, in a swish of a tail, was three hundred feet above the leaping fox, **'for I am the Queen of the Skies.'**

Kyuubi landed, spun, crouching low in preparation for his next attack. Behind him, the trees, all wet from a storm a few nights before, simply burst into flames, their trunks exploding as the water within them was superheated in seconds.

The fires were extinguished almost immidiatly with the hurricanes that came with each flap of Rokubi's wings. The ground beneath the fox's feet glowed red as the rocks began to melt.

The winds swirled angrily as Rokubi gained even more attitude.

Kyuubi leapt.

Rokubi dove.

They slammed together with a thud that echoed for miles then fell to earth in an earth-shaking crash. Howls and yelps of pain filled the air as the two grappled with each other.

Kyuubi's massive maw latched onto the root of Rokubi's wing, purple chakra gushing forth like blood, rushing hard and fast like a wind.

Rokubi's beak buried itself in Kyuubi's shoulder, a hissing noise filling the air like a thousand angry snakes as crimson chakra burst from the wound and melted the ground and sent the burned hulks of trees alight once more, the falcon's free wing flapping and slapping madly at the fox that had bitten her.

* * *

"What kind of battle is this?" Sakura asked, horrorstruck as she listened to the cries of the villagers and watched the incredible battle that was going on miles away from Konoha yet seemed to be right at their front gate.

"It's a battle between Jinchuuriki," Gaara answered. "This is what would've transpired had two villages possessing Bijuu gone to war with one another. The demons would sweep the enemy army aside without thought then proceed to do battle with each other."

"But Kyuubi's the strongest Bijuu right? So it'll win, right?"

"Perhaps, but the six tails has the power of flight. She could simply get above him and batter him with hurricanes. That is why the nine tails is trying to hold her on the ground." Sure enough, even as Gaara, the only one who had experience in Jinchuuriki battles, spoke, Rokubi's free wing had ceased its battering and was flapping madly, trying to lift the falcon's bulk off the ground. The shaking worked, because a cloud of debris was thrown into the air as Kyuubi lost his grip and fell to earth.

* * *

"**Time to die, Kyuubi-sama!" **shouted Rokubi as she flapped her wings. The wind became a tornado that arced for the ground. Kyuubi lunged to one side, then darted forward, paws flashing as the funnel cloud etched the ground he'd just vacated. He skidded to a stop and looked up at the hawk floating over him.

A low rumble issued from his throat like a peal of thunder then his mouth opened wide and a fountain of foxfire spewed forth, the scintillating colors lighting the sky like a fireworks display. Rokubi rolled to one side with the grace and poise of a humming bird then sent another tornado earthward.

The fox hopped backwards as the whirlwind slammed to earth in front of him in an explosion of air that almost knocked him off balance.

Rokubi cackled like some annoying crow. **"Come now, Kyuubi. Is this all the lauded Lord of Demons has to offer!? You're pathetic, just like your host!"**

'**Dammit. That little sparrow won't come down. Rokubi's well known for being able to stay aloft for weeks on end.'**

'Well think of something fast, furball,' Naruto snarled. 'I can't keep this up much longer!' Even as the blond spoke, Kyuubi could feel the heat of his own youki on Naruto's body, embedded within the shell of demonic energy that enshrouded it.

'**That's it! All I have to do is hit Rokubi's host.'** One fang curled in the demon's version of a smirk. Now all he had to do was get her to come down.

Thunder rolled overhead and dark rain clouds began gathering overhead.

'**Perhaps my foxfire will take care of that for me.'**

The tremendous heat that the demonic fire gave off had superheated the air around the battlefield, causing it to rise rapidly. As the air rose, the moisture in the air was condensing. Within minutes, the sky had gone from a pleasant sapphire to an angry black, with lighting lancing between the clouds.

A lance of pain surged through Naruto's true body, making the demon shell everyone saw stagger.

'**The poison. Gotta hurry. We only have a few minutes left at best before I have to get back to the village!'**

Rain began falling, brought about by the colossal clash of power that was going on.

"To be able to change the weather," Sakura marveled. "This is really something else."

"And something that's going to be rather detrimental to Naruto's career as a shinobi," Tsunade said grimly.

"What do you mean, Tsunade-sama?" asked Shizune.

"Look around you."

They did and the two kunoichi weren't pleased. The shinobi assembled, most of whom had been at the wall when Sasuke had attacked and witnessed Naruto's fight with the Uchiha, were all glaring at the Kyuubi's monstrous form in the distance and muttering sullenly.

"-played us like a violin."

"Should've never trusted a demon."

"Can't believe he just used it to get at us."

Sakura was horrified. "How can they say that when they loved Naruto not even a month ago!?"

"You have to look at it from their perspective," Tsunade answered, sounding like she was about ready to bust some skulls. "We've learned to see the man behind the demon. They've only seen a demon for twenty years and, just when their trust was restored, it was shattered again. They see Naruto as being taken over by the demon from the very beginning and playing us for fools."

"But that's not…"

"I know," Tsunade said forcefully. "I know, but they don't. Naruto may save the village, but he may have just forfeited any chance he had of living peacefully in the village."

Inside his mind, Naruto coughed violently and felt his concentration waver. The poison was getting to dangerous levels. If this next attack didn't end it, they might have to retreat and leave Konoha to the mercies of Rokubi, and that was something that couldn't be allowed to happen.

The chakra buffer was failing as well. Naruto had maybe another minute inside him at best.

'Hurry fox, getting kinda tight here.'

'**Hang in there. I've got an idea.'**

Outside, the village blinked as the Kyuubi sat down on his haunches and tilted a long-eared head towards the sky. Rivers of red youki billowed into the air from beneath it and began to gather at the demon's open jaw.

The ball of energy crackled as it grew then suddenly shrank and vanished.

There was a flash like a star going nova and a river of concentrated youki spewed forth from Kyuubi's maw, lancing into the sky as a shaft of pure energy ringed in condensation bubbles as the beam broke the sound barrier.

Rokubi was caught off guard but dropped in altitude, forcing the attack to detonate early in an effort to reduce the damage done.

The horizon was lit by a second sun, the shockwave of the explosion rolling across the forest, visible because of the leaves on the trees getting torn from their trunks and thrown into the air before bursting into flame in the heat wave.

The brunt of the explosion had spent itself by the time it slammed into Konoha, but still, even with the weakened force, windows on the other side of the village blew out and shingles were torn from their roofs just as the leaves in the forest had been.

When the mushroom cloud in the distance ceased billowing, Tsunade beckoned to Gaara and Sakura. They leapt from the wall, landed in a cushion of sand that sprang up to meet them, then sprinted into the forest.

Almost immidiatly, the stench of burned flesh met them. That would be all the cute little fuzzies in the forest that were now cute little charcoal briquettes. Close behind was the wave of heat that made them sweat instantly right before the moisture evaporated, but didn't leave them any cooler.

Then the forest gave way to the burned and seared hulks that used to be trees, some even on fire from the intense blast wave. Soon they were forced to leave even that behind as they blew across the blackened stumps and out over the clearing Rokubi and Kyuubi had chosen to fight in.

"Oh…my…god!" exclaimed Sakura when they beheld the scene before them.

The rock was charred and blackened and small rivulets of molten rock were glowing here and there, cooling with gentle hissing noises. An oppressive heat hung over the entire field as flames still burned both on the blackened trees and even on some of the rock, the fire itself sparkling with different colors like crimson and green and brilliant orange, colors that never existed in natural fire.

In the center of the shallow crater, for that was what it was, were Ayame and Naruto, both devoid of any hint of youki, though their eyes and faces were still showing their demonic sides. Naruto's orange shirt was gone, nothing but an cloth scrap that was tucked into the hem of his shredded pants, which now resembled shorts more than anything. A kunai holster with a wasted strap was laying on the ground beside him and the other pouch was sagging dangerously. His body was in bad shape. Deep gashes ran all over his body and there was a massive amount of blood on the left side of his back, where Rokubi had been pecking at Kyuubi's body.

'The damage done to the demonic body must transfer to the host's!' Sakura realized. Then she noticed Naruto's arm. His right arm was a sickly shade of purple and black, something that spread over his chest, down towards the seal on his stomach and up his neck and to the elbow on his left arm. The poison was spreading fast. So fast in fact that if Sakura took the time to watch, she could actually see the discoloration moving ever so slightly.

"Naruto!" She shouted, taking a step towards the blond.

"**Stay back!" **he shouted, his voice still deep and brassy. **"We're not finished here, girl."**

"**Indeed we aren't, Kyuubi-sama," **Rokubi answered with Ayame's mouth. **"It appears that my host's sister's poison is working wonders, is it not?"**

"**Shut up. I'll kill you both here and now."**

"**Bold words, Kyuubi-sama," **the falcon answered. **"Your legs have been affected as well. You're getting close to the point of being unable to move."**

"**So are you, Rokubi. We're both at our limits. I poured all of my youki into that last attack and even if you did dodge the brunt of it, you're still weak." **Kyuubi's lip curled into a fanged smear. **"You shouldn't have challenged me when you knew the results would turn out like this."**

"**True," **she replied, taking a few tottering steps forward. **"But I'm still able to move." **After the third step, she twitched then coughed, blood bursting from her mouth before falling forward, collapsing without a noise.

"**Looks like I did more damage than we both thought," **Kyuubi remarked before he coughed violently, bringing up blood himself then mimicking Rokubi to tip back and land, spread eagle, flat on his back.

"Naruto!" Tsunade shouted with Sakura before the trio ran forward and knelt next to the fallen blond, who seemed to be fading in and out of consciousness, his red eyes fading to sapphire and the whiskers returning to their usual length.

"Sakura…-chan…" Naruto wheezed out, trying to smile and failing. Even in the scant minutes they been standing there, the discoloration on Naruto's neck had spread to cover it before coming up to just behind his ears. The only healthy spot was on his stomach, where the seal lay and even that was being penetrated by the first tendrils. "Hows…it…going…?"

"Shut up and don't talk," the medic snapped as she began to perform a diagnostic jutsu on her friend. "You'll just make your condition worse."

"Gaara…how's…Ayame…?" asked the dying man. The Kazekage glanced at Ayame's limp and bloody form.

"Dead. You and your demon have done it, Uzumaki Naruto."

For some reason, the blond teared up at the pronouncement. "Idiot," he murmured before his eyes dropped closed and he faded from consciousness.

"Tsunade-sensei!" Sakura called, looking rather alarmed. "We have to get Naruto the poison treatment ward at Konoha now!"

"Why?"

The pink haired woman turned grim. "He's got about fifteen minutes to live."

That was all Tsunade needed.

In a heartbeat, she'd scooped her brother/grandson up in her arms and dashed back towards the village, knowing it would be a close call. It would take her ten minutes to reach the hospital, which only left five to get him hooked up and stabilized.

The Sannin, though much older than either Gaara or Sakura, outdistanced the pursuing shinobi, pulling ahead with ease and dashing through the gates of the village, barely taking note of the angry throng on either side of her who were clamoring to let him die. However, what she didn't see was the Konoha Eleven in the crowd, who noted their leader's grim face and dashed off after her, darting from rooftops to power lines and back again as they followed her to the hospital.

* * *

The ground back at the site of battle rippled and convulsed before Tobi rose from the earth.

"Well. Looks like Naruto-kun has become a fierce enemy indeed," remarked the Akatsuki. "Itachi-kun is on his way, but it looks like he'll be too late to collect the nine tails." Ayame stirred slightly and her crimson eyes opened, her vision blurred for a moment before focusing on the hem of the man's black and red cloud patterned cloak. "No matter," the man above her said as she faded again. "You'll do just fine."

With that, he picked her up, slung her over his shoulder and was gone in the blink of an eye.

* * *

Naruto awoke to a fierce pain shooting through his being. He gritted his teeth against the spears of hot iron that were piercing him, but couldn't and screamed from the sheer agony he was in, his body arching on its own, only to be roughly restrained.

"Hold…down!" A voice called. Naruto, in his pain-induced haze, didn't recognize it at all. "Hold him dammit!"

The agony redoubled and Naruto shouted again before he couldn't take it anymore and dropped back into the blackness.

Sakura had jumped when Naruto had woken up and screamed abruptly, but she kept working, using an antidote that her teacher had come up with soon after bringing the fading blond into the ICU ward for treatment. Even Tsunade was hard pressed to keep Naruto's feet down as the blond arched and his wrists almost broke through Gaara's sand.

They and Shizune were the only four in the room at the moment, but the rest of their friends were waiting on tenterhooks right outside for news of their boisterous friend.

"Sounds like he's dying," Chouji said with a shudder as Naruto's yell reached them.

"He was poisoned," Neji replied, tapping a finger on his crossed arms. It was the only sign of how tense he was. "And even for Naruto, poison is a very dangerous thing."

Tenten didn't talk to anyone as she paced back and forth, a whole host of emotions raging inside her, from concern to anger to confusion over that anger to hopelessness, a whirlwind that made her feel faint, as if she would keel over backwards at any time.

"Tenten, you need to sit down," Lee said gently. "You'll feel better…"

"How the hell would you know!" The weapons mistress snapped as she rounded on the lanky man. She seemed to catch herself and sat down heavily next to Neji. "Sorry, Lee. I guess I'm just worried."

"It's understandable for a student to be worried about her teacher," Ino said gently.

"Y'know, this wouldn't have happened if he didn't get poisoned in the first place," Kiba pointed out.

"You trying to start something, mutt boy!?" Tenten demanded as she shot to her feet, one hand reaching for the huge scroll that was ever-present on her back.

"Bring it on, bitch," Kiba returned just as heatedly, one hand cracking in anticipation. "I could use a good fight."

Neji was between them before either could do something they regretted. "Enough," he snapped coldly. "we are all just worried about Naruto. Let's not add any other casualties to the list shall we?" Tenten looked for a moment like she would ignore him, then sighed and returned to pacing.

Kiba turned to leave, but a hard grip coiled around his elbow. When he turned, he found himself staring at an activated Byakugan. Despite his bravado, the Inuzuka flinched. "Understand this," Neji snarled. "I stopped the fight this time, but if you _ever_ threaten one of my team again, you'll sincerely regret it."

The dog user spluttered, trying to get a decent comeback, but while staring down the Byakugan, his mind had suddenly gone blank. Finally he responded in typical Kiba fashion, but it was obvious that all his bravado was gone.

"Keh, name the time and place and Akamaru and I'll wipe the floor with you!"

He jerked his arm out of Neji's grip and stalked away, and was quickly replaced by Jiraiya, who looked rather grim.

"How's he doing?" The Sannin asked to the room at large.

"We…don't know," Tenten answered softly. "Tsunade-sama and Sakura-chan have been in there with him for the past few minutes, but so far…" she shrugged, "we haven't heard anything."

"How long's he been in?"

"Fifteen minutes," Neji answered, his answer as precise and clipped as ever.

The Toad Sannin relaxed visible. "Well, if it has been that long, he should be fine, or at least over the majority of it."

"What happened to him anyway?" Shikamaru asked the Sage.

Jiraiya's eyes closed as he contemplated his answer. "Have you all heard of a poison called 'Demon's Downfall'?"

They shook their heads.

"Well, I'm not surprised. It's not really well known, but it's a poison designed to bring down even a Bijuu and his Jinchuuriki."

That got a rise out of them with every eye in the area focusing on the Sannin.

"So how did Naruto not die within the first few minutes of getting hit with it?" Ino demanded.

Jiraiya sighed. "I don't know. There're rumors that it spreads slowly unless it comes into contact with youki, or in other words…"

"A demon's chakra," Shika finished.

"Right. It's a special poison known only to a few. How Yumi got her hands on it, I can't imagine." A solemn silence fell over the assembled shinobi.

Change began with the red syringe light over the ward's door blinking off. It made no sound at all, but none of the ninja missed it. Sakura staggered out, sweating like a pig, the moisture soaking her face, making her hair stick and coloring the front of her dress.

"Well, Forehead?"

Sakura huffed deeply, trying to regain her composure. Finally she smiled weakly.

"Tsunade-sensei has him stabilized."

Relieved looks broke out all around the waiting room. "But he's not out of the woods yet," the medic cautioned. "Ino, Tsunade-sensei wants you in there to help heal his basic wounds while I try to get some of my chakra back."

The blond nodded grimly and strode into the ward without another word. Sakura watched her part time rival and part time friend go then dropped with a huff onto the benches that sat on either side of the double doors.

"How close was it?" asked Jiraiya. He'd caught a glimpse of Naruto as Tsunade had hurtled past. He'd known the violent woman for enough years to know when she was nervous or skeptical about something and this had been one of the rare times he'd seen her this tense.

Sakura glanced at the man then looked away, knowing she would never slip anything past him. "Very. We…lost him twice. His heart failed and we had to restart it. But once we got a lot of the poison nullified, then his healing factor began to take over."

"So why send Ino in?" Shika asked.

"Well, it's still going slow, so we're gonna boost it a bit, so his body can concentrate on recovering from the venom."

* * *

It was several hours later when Naruto was finally moved to a step down unit. He looked horrible, with white bandages over much of his exposed chest, covering the wounds and chakra burns that had begun to crop up partway through the examination, a side effect of his use of Kyuubi's full power. It was proof of just how far the duo had pushed the blonde's body to the limit. They'd gone right up to the very max, risking incineration in order to protect the village from the Rokubi no Taka's wrath.

Tsunade, looking over the equipment in the room, sighed as the angry voices of the villagers outside came in through the open window. In just under a couple of hours, the story of how Kyuubi had appeared in Konoha had spread through the village like wildfire, turning almost every shinobi and civilian alike against Naruto. It wasn't as bad as it had been before, some of Naruto's new supporters had turned out to be not so fair-weather as the rest and still stuck by the blond.

Among the new supporters were Yamato's ANBU squad along with Sai's squad. Now those two squads were keeping the floor of the hospital that Naruto resided on closed off from the public, so none of them could get any funny ideas and try to assassinate the incapacitated Jinchuuriki.

Tsunade finished her examination and swept from the room after shutting the window. As much as she hated to admit it, she couldn't stay by her adopted little brother's side twenty four seven. She still had obligations to fulfill.

A week passed and still Naruto remained comatose. Different members of the Konoha Eleven stopped by and stayed for as long as they could every day, but still, they were shinobi and had missions to do and paperwork to fill out. The only one who never left the blonde's side was his sensei, who was contemplating how to train the blond next. It was clear that the man was getting close to the level of a Sannin and with the Kyuubi's input, he was probably beyond even that.

"Minato and Naruto," Jiraiya muttered to himself with a light chuckle, referring to his eldest student by the nickname that Jiraiya himself had picked out. "Two of a kind."

"Oh! Jiraiya-sama!" said a startled voice near the entrance. The Sannin looked around and noticed Tenten standing in the doorway. Of all the blonde's friends, she had been the one to come by the most, staying the longest and did the most to help the man get back to the world of the living.

"Tenten-chan! Finally come to be the subject for one of my books!?" Jiraiya asked loudly with a perverted laugh. He was hit in the face by Tenten's massive weapons scroll.

"Jeeze, old pervert," Tenten sighed as she scratched her head. "He's worse than Gai in some ways." Moments after they had met earlier in the week, the old man had asked her to be the subject for one of his books. Of course, Tenten had heard of the 'Icha Icha' series and she would die before she'd be the main character in one of the smutty novels.

After stashing the old Sannin safely in the hall, she sat down beside Naruto's bed and watched him. It'd surprised her somewhat when she'd begun doing this. In the brief month they'd worked and trained together, Tenten didn't think that they'd gotten so close, but somehow they had and now Naruto was a valued and cherished friend instead of a good acquaintance.

Jiraiya stumbled back into the room with a massive knot on his head and didn't say a word as he leaned against the windowsill. Tenten reached for another weapon as discreetly as she could, but when the old man made no more lecherous advances, she relaxed.

Naruto floated in simple blackness. He couldn't see anything, couldn't hear anything and couldn't feel anything.

'Am I…dead?' He wondered.

'**Tough luck, brat. Sorry but we lived,' **said a deep and brassy voice that reverberated through the blonde's entire head.

Naruto's vision came to life, swimming into being and before him stood the massive form of Kyuubi as the demon stared down at his host, who was lying on his back in their mind's damp chamber.

'**Mornin' sunshine,' **Kyuubi quipped.

'How…long?'

'**A week, and I'll be out of it for at least another three days or so. I have way more chakra than you, so it'll take time to refill.'**

Naruto shrugged, then headed for the waking world.

"So, why do you hang out with Naruto so much?" Jiraiya asked curiously. "I was under the impression that you two didn't know each other that well."

Tenten looked at the blond on the bed. "Well, we've been training together for the past few weeks and…I guess we just ended up being friends."

"Yeah, he has that effect on people," Jiraiya said nodding. His own experience with the blond had been much the same. At first the only thing the sage wanted from the Jinchuuriki was his Orioke no Jutsu, but as time passed, he became the surrogate son Jiraiya never had, ranking right up there with the Yondaime.

"Well, I'm gonna go now. Got some business to take care of in town." With that, the Sage left, where to Tenten hadn't the foggiest idea, but something told her it was better to remain ignorant.

The sage had been gone about twenty minutes when Naruto stirred, grunting feebly with either pain or discomfort. Then his eyes opened, fogged, as if he didn't know where he was, wincing as the harsh light from the bulbs overhead and the sun from the window stabbed him in the eyes.

"Naruto!"

The blond looked at his teacher/student, squinting, as if he didn't recognize her. At last the indefinable shape over him swam into focus.

"Tenten…-chan?"

The weapons mistress sighed, relieved and sat back in her chair. "You really gave us a scare, Naruto," she told him as the blond tried to clear the fog from his head. He tried to sit up, but hissed with pain before he even cleared the halfway mark and sank back against the mattress.

"Hurting?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," Naruto answered, his voice dry and rasping from disuse. He scratched at his neck. "Got some water?"

"Sure."

As she fetched the water, Naruto's eyes fell across the mountain of get well soon gifts that were piled up on his bed stand. A note for three free meals at Ichiraku that would be gone the day Naruto was discharged, Kazekiri, its black lacquer sheath gleaming, probably polished and sharpened by Tenten, various herbs from Neji, a set of Icha Icha books from Kakashi and Jiraiya…Naruto would burn those the first chance he got…and other things that he couldn't begin to guess at, but his cloak, cleaned, washed and mended, was hanging from the coat tree that was beside the nightstand.

"So, you finally decided to quit slacking off."

Both shinobi looked at the entrance and saw the Fifth standing in the doorway with a frown on her face, arms clasped behind her.

"Hokage-sama!" Tenten murmured, bowing.

"Hey Baa-chan. Miss me?"

The Hokage grinned. "You little brat. I oughta throttle you for that stunt you pulled." She strode over to his bed and loomed over him, "but I'm not. Here," she tossed something that weighed a few pounds into his lap. "This is for you."

"Baa-chan…" Naruto breathed, looking at the object with amazement. It was a green Konoha chuunin's vest.

"And that's not all," added Tsunade, unrolling a certificate in her other hand. She cleared her throat. "Gotta make this official. I have to read it and there has to be one witness of jounin rank or higher, and since Tenten-san here meets that requirement…Let it be known that on this day, Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha chuunin, is hereby promoted to jounin in recognition of his valor in service of the village." She handed him the parchment.

"Congratulations Naruto!" Tenten gushed, looking like she was about to cry with happiness.

The blond looked rather dazed. "Wow," he said, "that's gotta be some kinda record."

"Second fastest promotion in the village's history," Tsunade told him proudly. "The only one faster was the Fourth, who skipped Chuunin entirely and was made Jounin right after his Exams." She ruffled his hair. "Nice job, kiddo."

"Heyheyhey!" Naruto protested. "Isn't manhandling your patients against your code or something!?" Tsunade laughed, ignoring him, Tenten joining in after a while.

* * *

It was another five days before Naruto was allowed to leave the hospital. During that time, everyone from Sai to Konohamaru dropped by to check up on him and see how he was doing. Naruto thought it was all well and good, but he was naturally full of energy, and by the end of the first day of his regaining consciousness, he was anxious to leave.

Naruto's wounds healed rather quickly, but it was still slower than normal until Kyuubi had recovered enough chakra to speed up the process. Tsunade had a fit and nearly gave him a concussion when she walked in to check on Naruto, only to find the blond out of bed and doing pushups on his fingertips. It was only a few hours later that she'd declared him fit to return to duty and discharged him.

So that was where Naruto found himself now, striding down the streets with his new vest hanging open, showing off the new shirt he'd had to buy. It was a darker shade of orange, with a black stripe that ran up the center and the collar before running down to the sleeves. On the back, hidden beneath the green Kevlar vest, was the symbol of the Leaf village, embroidered also in black. His pants were still black but there was an orange panel on the inside of each calf and the hem was tucked into the new pair of sandal boots he'd gotten since he'd worn the old ones into the ground while away from the village.

For once, he was without his cloak since he'd left it at Tsunade's house so he could show Old Man Ichiraku and his daughter the new acquisition.

'**We're being followed,' **Kyuubi cautioned. Naruto cast his senses around and picked up on the two interlopers in seconds. He didn't give any sign of catching on, not breaking stride or looking back. Hell, his chakra didn't even twitch. The blond turned into an alley that had no one in it and simply waited. The alley was a dead end, with a massive wooden wall where its exit would've been.

The two pursuers had stopped just outside of the alley's entrance, one on each side. It appeared as if Naruto was hemmed in with no way out.

"You can come out," he said without turning. "I know you're there."

The two men, chuunin by the looks of them, stepped into the alley, forming a wall with their bodies. "Demon!" one hissed. "You'll pay for your deception!"

Now their prey faced them. "Really?" He remarked casually. "You're willing to assault a higher-ranked shinobi? Doesn't that carry a death penalty?" His hand, until now causally in a pocket, slipped out and dangled, fingers loose, by his kunai holster, now repaired after breaking.

The chuunin flinched, but quickly steeled themselves, each pulling a kunai. "The killing of subordinates also carries a death penalty, but I guess a demon wouldn't know that!" The one on the right snapped out.

"Okay, so how about if I knock you out?" asked a voice behind them. Before either shinobi could react, a hand grabbed their heads and slammed them together before letting them drop to the floor.

The Kage Bunshin poofed out of existence.

Naruto sighed. Now he would have to report the incident to Baa-chan.

'Looks like lunch'll have to wait,' Naruto grumped to himself as he picked up both men and leapt up to the roof, beginning his trek to the Tower.

* * *

Well, that should've been much better than the last chapter. At least I hope. So, there you have it, Naruto makes chuunin then gets promoted to jounin for defending the village from a demon attack. I think that would warrent a promotion, wouldn't you? So next chapter begins another arc where old and new faces appear and some other things happen...Well that's all I have really, so see you later and remember to read and review!


	20. Moving On

Disclaimer: Own nadda

Last time: The Exams conclude and Naruto gets promoted to Jounin.

This time: Old and new faces make appearances.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Naruto," Tsunade said as she glared down at the two chuunin who were bound with wire at her feet. The blond himself was leaning against the door. "I didn't think there would be people who would be this driven to attack you."

"It's alright," the newly-minted jounin replied. "It's probably my fault for letting Kyuubi out."

"Well, I didn't want to tell you this, but there've been letters of protest and death threats against you coming into my in tray ever since I went public with your promotion to jounin."

"Speaking of that, how'd you convince the council?"

Tsunade grinned. "Loophole. Awards for valor can be given by the Hokage without the approval of the council as long as it 'a conspicuous and valiant display of courage and integrity'." The Kage grinned. "I think that fit your fight with Ayame rather well."

"If you say so."

The Sannin strode behind her desk and sat down, surveying the chuunin, who were finally looking like they were starting to come around. "With this recent incident, I think that we should probably get you out of Konoha for a while."

"What'd you have in mind, Baa-chan?"

There was a knock at the door and Sakura came in. "Tsunade-sensei, here are the day's mission requests." The kunoichi set the stack of parchment on the Fifth's already cluttered desk and turned around, jumping when she saw Naruto.

"Naruto! Didn't see you there."

"Hey Sakura-chan. Baa-chan still have you slaving away?"

"Alright, enough chit-chat," Tsunade interrupted as she began going through the stack of paper. "Naruto, I'll get back to you when I have a mission for you. Until then, why don't you go and try to find something to do?"

"Right. See you later." The jounin left and Sakura followed hot on his heels as he left the tower and bounded onto the rooftops. The two followed a random course for a bit before Naruto headed for Ichiraku and Sakura left for the hospital.

* * *

The Jinchuuriki was busy inhaling a bowl of ramen when a voice behind him stopped him.

"So this is where you went. Should've known." It was Tenten, who was watching with mild fascination and disgust. As much as she saw it, it never failed to impress how fast Naruto could ingest ramen.

"Tenten-chan! How're you doing?"

"Fine." The weapons mistress replied, sitting down. She lapsed into silence and Naruto grinned.

"Alright, let me guess," he said. "You want to get back to learning jutsu."

The kunoichi laughed sheepishly. "You got me," she admitted. Naruto inhaled the last of the ramen and slurped up the broth, slapping some ryou down to pay for the bill.

"Okay, let's get going."

Naruto and Tenten spent the rest of the day working on jutsu and trying to unlock the first gate, and when they finally quit, both were sweaty and smelly.

* * *

"There you are!" Tsunade said when Naruto got home for the night. "I've got a mission for you. Get packed tonight and I'll give you the brief tomorrow."

"Right."

Naruto didn't sleep well that night. His first mission as a jounin. It felt almost surreal in a way, as if he'd come full circle. He'd had his first mission with Kakashi-sensei almost ten years ago and now he would be going again, his first mission for Konoha in five years.

He arrived early at the tower and was ushered into the room where missions were handed out almost immidiatly, ignoring most of the glares he got from the jounin and chuunin in the room.

"Naruto!"

"Iruka-sensei! How are you?"

"Good good…"

"I hate to interrupt," Tsunade said, as she pulled out a sheaf of paper, the mission statement for Naruto. "But Naruto's gotta get moving now and pull his team together."

"Huh? This isn't a solo mission?" Naruto asked, surprised. He was a new jounin and had never led troops into battle. It would be awkward for him.

"Well, it was going to be, until I noticed the mission request's origin." Naruto took the paper from his adopted grandma and looked at it. Under the heading 'Person(s) of Origin' was the name Fukayama Hinata.

"Fukayama Hinata? Who's that?" he asked.

"Oh right. You weren't here for that. You would know her as Hyuuga Hinata."

"WHAT!?" Naruto shouted. "Hinata-chan got married? When the hell did that happen?"

Iruka and Tsunade glanced at each other. "How long has it been? Two years now?" Iruka asked.

"Something like that. Now, all you need to know about her location is in this folder," Tsunade said handing him a manila envelope. "I'll give you around twelve hours to pull together a team and take off. Good luck."

Naruto left, rubbing his blond head. 'Great. Now I have to come up with a team for the mission.' He looked over the mission statement, checking to see how many teammates he was allowed. Four. Now he had to find three other people that he could work with and would trust him.

'**How about that Hyuuga with the stick up his ass?'** Kyuubi asked, thinking that the relationship between the timid Hyuuga girl and her genius cousin could work to their advantage.

'Hey yeah! Great idea furball. 'Bout time you had one.'

'**Shut the hell up brat,'** the demon growled as Naruto headed for the Hyuuga mansion.

* * *

"Let me through you frozen bastard!" Naruto growled. He was standing outside the manor and the sentry had denied him entry. "I'm here to see Neji!"

"Neji-sama would never want to see a demon like you." The sentry repeated.

Naruto's temper was beginning to fray. "Look," he growled. "You let me through or I will let you meet Kyuubi and then you'll see the difference."

The sentry sank into a Jyuuken stance. "Are you threatening me, demon?"

"No. I'm promising you." Naruto grinned viciously. "And I never go back on my word."

"What's going on here?" asked a voice. The gate opened and Neji himself walked through the opening. "I can hear you in the courtyard."

"Neji-sama!" the sentry shouted, dropping to a submissive knee. "This whelp demands to see you but I know you would never…"

"Uzumaki Naruto," Neji said with a small smile. "What a surprise. Please, come in." The genius stepped aside and allowed the blond through, grinning at the stunned doorman.

"Now, Naruto. What do you need to see me for?"

Naruto handed him the mission statement and waited for the other jounin to quit reading it. When he finished, Neji looked…well he looked rather rigid. "You want me to come with you because you think that Hinata-sama's relationship with me could work to your advantage." It wasn't a question. Neji had read him like a book.

"Yeah. So how about it?"

The pale-eyed man sighed. "Well, I haven't seen Hinata-sama since her marriage. I have to clear it with Hiashi-sama, but it shouldn't pose too much of a problem."

"Yeah. I'll wait here. You should talk to Hinata-chan's dad. He wouldn't like me too much."

"Because of the Kyuubi?" Neji asked, walking away and smirking over his shoulder at Naruto's stunned look. Before Naruto could stop him, Neji had vanished into the manor.

Twenty minutes later he reappeared with a small pack slung over his shoulders and the two left the manor, heading for a shady tree to plan the rest of the mission.

"Neji."

"What?"

"How'd you…"

"Know about the demon? I didn't until a few days ago. After a conversation we had with Jiraiya-sama while you were in the ICU and the events of the final match of the Chuunin Exams, it all came together once I looked over our fight in our first exams and the events concerning Sasuke's assault on the Leaf. It hit me then."

"Sorry I didn't tell you."

"Forget it. I can understand what you're going through."

The pair plopped down underneath a tree and Naruto outlined to Neji what he was looking for in a team.

The genius tapped his chin. "Well, every shinobi team in the field needs a medic, so I would go with either Yamanaka Ino or Haruno Sakura."

"I'll check with Sakura-chan," Naruto murmured, hoping the kunoichi didn't have any plans already made. "I don't know Ino well enough to work with her. So, who's the last person?"

"Well, with me and Sakura you have medical and close-range combat covered. You are a mid to close range specialist, so that's covered. I would want a long-range specialist now. And that brings Tenten readily to mind." The prodigy looked sideways at the Jinchuuriki beside him. "It is my understanding that you have a student/teacher relationship with her."

"Uh, yeah. She told you?"

Neji snorted. "She showed me. You created a monster Naruto. You know that?"

"Huh?"

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep a Kaiten going when you have four Kage Bunshins throwing all kinds of weapons at you?" The two laughed lightly then stood.

"I'm going to find Sakura-chan."

"And I shall locate Tenten. With any luck, we will have a team." Naruto nodded and the two were gone in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

A few hours later, Naruto, his cloak on and the hood up, and Sakura were gathered outside the gate, waiting on Tenten and Neji, who were on their way. Hopefully. With less than an hour before the departure time, Neji appeared from thin air, Tenten right beside him.

"Well?" Neji asked. "Shall we go?"

Naruto nodded and the four vaulted into the trees and were gone with only the faint whisper of the cloak to attest to the fact they were even there. The team dynamics were quick to work out since everyone had worked together at some point in time.

Neji was the close-combat specialist and the ranking jounin, but he wasn't in charge, so he took on a more mentor style role to help Naruto with his leadership skills and also functioned as a second in command. Sakura was the medic and the back up close quarters specialist. Naruto was their all around tank and team leader with a special emphasis on mid and close range jutsu and Tenten was the long range specialist.

Team Naruto was only a few hours out from Konoha when the blond called a halt and they dropped to the forest floor.

"What'd we stop for, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Something needs to be said," he answered cryptically. He looked at the other kunoichi on the team. "Tenten-chan, you're the only one who doesn't know this."

"Naruto!" Sakura breathed.

"Know what?" Tenten asked.

To the weapons mistress, Naruto seemed to be struggling with some kind of inner conflict, but then his blue eyes steeled and he looked her straight in the eye. "I'm the Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi."

Tenten looked stunned. Sakura and Neji could sympathize. They'd been shocked too when they'd found out that the hyper blond contained the most powerful of all the nine Bijuu. "You…_you're _the container for the Kyuubi no Yoko?"

"Yeah. I thought you should know since I told Sakura and Neji figured it out on his own."

The look of disbelief was fading from Tenten's face. "Well, I guess it does explain that weird chakra you use and why the Kyuubi suddenly appeared at the village wall during the fight with Ayame."

"Yeah. That was Kyuubi's youki. A demon's host is able to use his or her demon's power to their own advantage."

Tenten shook her head. "Well, I guess we can just count ourselves lucky that you didn't turn out like Gaara-sama did."

"Well, Gaara turned out alright in the end," Naruto replied, though the other shinobi could tell that Naruto was glad he didn't come out like Gaara too. "Come on. We still have another three days or so until we get to Hinata's village."

They leapt into the trees, bounding from branch to branch.

"I can't believe we get to see Hinata-chan again," Tenten said. "It should be interesting to see how she's been doing these past few years, right Neji?"

"If you say so."

"Hey, why did Hinata-chan get married anyway?" the blond jounin asked. "It always seemed like she was waiting for someone."

"You, you dumbass," Sakura muttered.

"Huh?"

"Oh nothing."

"Hinata-sama did not want to get married," Neji said, and he sounded sullen. "She was adamantly against it, but it was an arranged marriage and she could not disgrace the clan, and by proxy her father, over it, so she went ahead and did it."

"But what was the point. I mean, no offense Neji, but you noble guys don't do anything without a reason."

"Right, that is usually the case and it was no different here. Konoha, ever since we were hit by the invasion with Orochimaru, has been struggling somewhat with our mission load. In an effort to bring in outside money, a minor lord but wealthy lord, Fukayama Yoritomo, was promised Hinata-sama's hand in marriage if he would provide Konohagakure with some of his income."

"And has he fulfilled his end of the bargain?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," Sakura answered, being more familiar with the financial side of the issue than Neji was. "Every month he sends the agreed upon amount to Konoha. Not that he has a choice. Now that he agreed to help Konoha, if Fukayama backs out now, Konoha would…get even." Everyone knew that meant that an assassin, probably someone like Kakashi, would be dispatched to end Yoritomo's life and collect the needed treasure.

* * *

The days passed quickly after that, and soon the small village of Lahan came into view. They were somewhat close to the border with Stone, so the village was nestled in an oblong bowl that had been carved out of the mountains. A river poured from the cliff they stood on and wound through the town, dividing Lahan in half. At the end of the village farthest from the shinobi was a regal mansion, clearly visible because of its lush landscape that mimicked that village around it and here the river forked, flowing around the mansion and providing Yoritomo with a natural moat with which to shield his home.

A winding trail curled down the mountain to their left while another serpentine brown streak could be seen ascending the mountains behind and to the right of the lord's residence.

"So, where would you hide if you were a mountain bandit?" Naruto asked his team. That was what the mission statement had said. They were to protect the trade convoys that passed through Lahan from the south and headed north into Stone. Apparently, bandits had taken up residence in the passes to the north of the village and Hinata had requested Konoha's help with getting rid of them.

Why they were needed was beyond Naruto. ANBU had done a recon of the village and found that Yoritomo employed a sizable contingent of samurai, sent from the capital to the south in order to help keep peace in the village that was the final stop before the long and hard trek north. The blond supposed that they were there as a gesture of good faith between Yoritomo and Konoha that said that Konoha would watch his back if he provided the village with the money they needed.

"Well, let's get down there," Naruto sighed, heading down the path, his team behind him. It was another two hours before they reached the end of the meandering trail and entered the village. The river cut right down the center of the main street, so bridges had been erected every hundred yards or so to facilitate the easy flow of goods through the village.

Naruto's eyes flicked from side to side under his hood, taking in the sights and sounds of the little hamlet.

'Seems lively enough,' he supposed, 'and it doesn't look as if the people are heartlessly oppressed or anything like that.' They passed a tavern and the blond noted its location. He would have to come back to it later. Bars and pubs were often a good source of information as the unsavory characters who knew much about the goings on of an underworld came there during the night and most could be 'persuaded' to talk.

The four ninja arrived at the bridge that spanned the natural moat around the house. There were two ornate bridges that covered both parts of the fork, but all the shinobi could see the minute, almost invisible, seam that told the four instantly that the bridges could either be raised or a section would drop out, leaving the enemy floundering in the water for just enough time to be picked off by archers.

Now they stood in front of the gate into the main compound, which was manned by a pair of samurai in dark blue armor with a light blue haori over the armor and ceremonial, but fully functional, yaris.

"Halt!" the one on the left barked. "What is your business?"

Naruto lowered his hood. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, jounin from Konohagakure, with my team, here on orders from the Godaime Hokage." He produced the mission statement. "We have a mission request from the lady of the house for escort services to the convoys passing through town and the statement said to see the lady to finalize the details."

The samurai snatched the paper from Naruto's hand and looked it over, checking the writing and looking at the seal on it, the stylized Leaf of Konoha which was underneath the kanji for fire. Finally he thrust it back. "We received no such information from neither Yoritomo-sama nor from Hinata-sama. You will not be allowed into the residence. Leave now or our spears will move you."

The samurai on the right sighed and stepped forward. "I'm Nobunaga Aoshi," he said. "Forgive him, he's new to gate duty and he's used to hearing orders direct from the top. Let me see the orders." He took the statement and looked it over. "Right. It's all here." He stepped up to the door and rapped hard on it.

The doors parted and revealed a splendid white marble sidewalk that was lined on both sides with small bushes. Other paths lead off the main one, heading for what were probably servants quarters and other buildings. The main path led right to the carved oak doors of the main house, which was surrounded with a wraparound veranda, the roof of the veranda supported by red lacquer pillars that had gold caps on them.

"Straight ahead to the doors of the main house," Aoshi told them. "One of the servants will meet you inside and take you to Hinata-sama." Sure enough, the moment the team walked through the door, a maidservant in a plain plum kimono met them with a bow.

"Good day!" She chirped. "My name is Hinamori Ako. How can I help you?"

"We're here to see Hinata-sama," Neji said. They'd discussed proper protocol before entering the village and decided that Neji, as the one most used to the noble pomp and circumstance, would be the one to handle the negotiations with Hinata and her husband.

"Of course…uh…"

"Hyuuga Neji."

"Oh! That's milady's maiden name! Are you related?" asked the bright girl as she led them down the ornately furnished hall. That floor of teak and the whitewashed walls looked like they were clean enough to eat off of. The metal fixtures were burnished till they shone and the pictures were perfectly preserved and spotless.

"Yes," Neji replied to Ako's question. "I'm her cousin."

"Oh, you're so lucky, Neji-sama," the girl replied. "Hinata-sama is so kind and poised. I want to be like her so much!" The girl was clearly held in awe of Hinata, and from the way she was talking, the shy girl hadn't changed much since she'd been gone.

They came to a set of sliding paper doors that had an ink picture of a serene lake with cattails and jumping fish being pursued by herons on it. Four samurai in similar armor to those outside flanked the door, though these had more ornate haori and their helmets had a high horsehair plume on them.

"Um…these shinobi are here to see Hinata-sama," Ako said timidly. One of the honor guard slid the door open a hair and called into the chamber on the other side. No reply was heard, but he and the samurai across from him pulled the door open so they could file through.

"This is where I leave you," Ako said. "If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to tell me!" Then the team had stepped through and found themselves flanked again by more honor guard. Apparently, this guy liked flaunting that he had a lot of money and had the favor of the daimyo.

Two also stood at the foot of a raised dias upon which sat Fukayama Yoritomo and Hinata. The lady looked absolutely stunned at the members of the team that had replied to her call for help and she outright gaped when her eyes landed on Naruto. She was wearing a pure white kimono that made her eyes seem dark by comparison and she was wearing the barest hints of makeup that made her seem even prettier than when she had been a shinobi. Hinata's hair hadn't changed much, except it was a tad longer and better kempt.

The four shinobi sat down at the lord's feet and bowed. A long time ago, Naruto wouldn't have bothered with the bow, but he knew that the success of the mission depended on Fukayama's favor, so he went through with it.

"Who are you?" Fukayama asked. His voice was like Hinata's father, one that was aristocratic and had an air for command about it. The man himself was dressing in a blue kimono top and a navy hakama, with the same haori that his guards wore on his shoulders. Yoritomo's face was narrow with high cheekbones and stern narrow black eyes that seemed to be like tunnels and not eyes. A topknot sat on top of his head and over his left eye ran a vicious scar that looked as if it'd been made with a sword, a theory that was promoted by the wakizashi tucked into his obi and the daito that sat on an ornate wood and beaten gold stand next to his left hand.

"My lord, we are the jounin that was sent from Konoha at Hinata-sama's request."

Neither Neji nor Naruto, even in their submissive postures, missed the man's hard eyes flick over Hinata, who flinched as if he'd struck her.

"And what is your mission in our lands?"

"Sir, it is our understanding that the trade convoys that pass through Lahan have come under attack by bandits in recent months. Konoha has been contracted to defend these convoys both as a gesture of goodwill and to ease political pressure from Iwagakure."

"My men have provided adequate protection for the traders. The bandits are being hunted even as we speak and I fully expect my men to wipe the fools out. My wife has apparently wasted your time and I do apologize. I shall pay Konoha double my usual rate as an apology."

"Now hang on!" Naruto shouted, lurching to his feet. The samurai leveled their weapons but otherwise made no move. "Hinata-chan wouldn't waste Konoha's time! Not when she's from our village herself!"

The blond missed the lady go red and mouth 'Naruto-kun'.

"Naruto, get down here!" Sakura murmured angrily as Neji and Tenten scowled at their leader's behavior.

She was ignored.

"If these convoys are really as safe as you think they are, then you won't mind if we take a look at your arrangements!"

"Do you speak for your captain?"

Naruto snorted then grinned cockily. "I am the captain. Neji speaks for me."

"And you are?"

"Uzumaki Naruto, jounin!"

"Well, Uzumaki-taicho, please, examine to your heart's content."

"Don't mind if I do." Then he turned his back on the room and marched away.

"Excuse him my lord," Neji said quickly. "Naruto-san has a tendency to be…impulsive, to put it mildly."

"I understand. However, Neji-san, if he shows that level of insubordination again, the Hokage will hear from me and I will withhold payment for the mission until he is properly punished."

"Yes sir," Neji answered, privately thinking that Naruto would only get a slap on the wrist, being tied to the Hokage's hip as he was.

"Now get out of my sight."

The shinobi rose, bowed and retreated, racing after their leader as soon as they were out of the mansion.

"Neji, what now?"

"Naruto may have been impulsive, but he did have a point. Hinata-sama knows the meaning of applying for a mission from Konoha just as well as we do. Something's not right here. Sakura, find Naruto. Tenten, you and I'll go up to the pass and see what we can dig up."

"Right."

The three shinobi blurred away.

* * *

Across the village, Naruto was racing up the pass and out of Lahan. Kyuubi had sent his youki into Naruto's nose, sharpening it to better than that of a dog's and now the blond was racing to track a scent he'd found.

It was the scent of some aged blood.

He arrived at a carnage scene. A trading convoy had come under attack in the pass and had been utterly butchered. Donkeys and mules lay dead and rotting, along with the corpses of the caravan's personnel.

"Damn."

His face contracted into a scowl when he noticed scar marks on the ground. They were long gouges that had been sliced neatly into the unyielding granite of the mountain. Naruto knelt and examined one. The inside of the cut was as smooth as glass.

It looked familiar, but the blond couldn't place it.

Then it hit him.

"Wind-type chakra. Whoever did this isn't your ordinary bandit." Just to prove a point, he unsealed Kazekiri and channeled his charka into the blade. When he was satisfied, he swung at the ground right next to the gash.

Naruto's swing carved out a line that was identical in every way to the one left from the attack.

"Well that proves that," he muttered as he sealed the sword away. "No samurai would be able to defend against a shinobi with wind chakra. I've gotta tell the others."

"Don't bother," said a voice behind him. Naruto spun, cloak flaring wide, hands speeding for his shuriken holster. He stopped mid-motion.

"Neji! Tenten-chan!"

The Hyuuga genius walked up the to the other jounin and belted him across the head.

"Ouch! Hey, what the hell was that for!?"

"Next time, don't piss off a noble. It makes the village and Hinata-sama look bad." The prodigy answered as he knelt next to the two slashes in the ground. "But you were right. This was done by wind chakra. Byakugan!"

The chakra veins in Neji's eyes bulged outward, standing out in cold relief on his temples as he scanned the area with his bloodline. "There's residual chakra everywhere, but there's no sign of whoever did this," he reported as he shut his limit down. "We'll have to worm our way into the next escort and hope the bandits attack."

Sakura appeared in a blur.

"What's going on? I felt Naruto and Neji's charka up here and I thought there was a fight!"

"No," Neji replied, "but look at this."

Sakura took one look at the gashes then began scanning the dead bodies in the area. "Yeah, but there's more than one bandit. Some of them have burns and some have been crushed. This guy here has fern-shaped burns that usually come from lightning."

"Wind, Fire, Earth, and Lightning-types," Tenten summarized, counting the types off on her fingers. "Ouch. That's a big band of missing-nin."

At the word missing-nin, they all looked at Naruto.

"Have you heard of this type of thing before, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

The blond crossed his arms and thought for a moment. "Yeah, actually. There've been rumors flying around for the last few years that there's a band of missing-nin running around northern Fire Country and the surrounding areas. I don't know if the rumors are true, since I usually stayed south of here, but they supposedly call themselves the Four Corners because of the four different chakra types. I guess they're real after all."

"Any idea who they are?"

"No. I didn't think they existed until this point."

"So why haven't Iwa and Konoha done anything about this?" Tenten asked. "I mean, it's hurting both countries."

"It's the principle of the thing," Neji answered. "The villages have been rivals since they were founded. Konoha won't do anything to help Iwa and Iwa won't do anything that'll help Konoha, but they'll still make a big political scene over it."

"That's petty!"

"That's politics," the Hyuuga replied shrugging. "Now we should get back. It's gonna get dark soon and we need to convince Fukayama-sama that he needs our services."

* * *

"So," Fukayama said, looking down his nose at the three shinobi bowing in front of him. Naruto remained defiantly on his feet. "You believe these attacks to have missing-nin behind them?"

"Yes sir," Neji murmured, "evidence at the scene points to such."

"Very well then, I'll allow this mission. Feel free to make yourselves at home. I'll tell Ako to make sure you're comfortable." Before anything else could be said, the side door to the chamber opened and a boy about thirteen years old stepped into the room.

"Father," he said, his voice an exact copy of his dad's, "it's time for my kenjutsu lesson."

"Your father is busy, Oda-kun," Hinata said softly.

The boy gave her a look that could've frozen ice. "I didn't ask you…_mother_!" There was a sarcastic emphasis on the mother part of the sentence.

Hinata seemed to clam up. Naruto's hand twitched beneath his cloak. That kid needed a good beating, the Jinchuuriki decided and mission or no mission, if he acted like that just once more…Sennen Goroshi time.

"Do not speak to your mother that way," Fukayama admonished, but there was no force behind his words.

'**Maybe a Sennen Goroshi for him too?'** Kyuubi asked.

'Don't tempt me furball.' Naruto answered, though he had the grin he wore when he was planning a good prank on.

"Yes father."

"Good. Now, go get your gear on and we'll practice in the courtyard. Hinata, show them to their rooms."

"Yes sir," Hinata responded. "Please," she said to her former comrades, "follow me."

Through the mansion they went till they came across an ornately furnished room with futons and a divider to split the room into men's and women's. It had bookshelves and a heater in the middle of the room. A sliding door opened right onto the veranda.

"Wow, Hinata-chan!" Sakura exclaimed. "It's great!"

The retired kunoichi blushed. "Thank you, Sakura-san. And I'm sorry for the way my husband acted."

"Don't be," Naruto growled vehemently. "But how did you end up with that asshole of a son?"

Hinata bowed her head. "Oda-kun," she said, "is not my child. Before me, Yoritomo had another wife. She died in childbirth with Oda-kun, and he resents me because he thinks that I'm here to replace his mother."

"Geeze," Naruto sighed. "I guess that means I can't use Sennen Goroshi on the little bastard."

"Naruto!" Sakura snarled, raising a threatening fist.

Tenten moved quickly to diffuse the situation. "So, do you have kids now, Hinata-chan?"

Hinata blushed. "Um…No. We've tried, but so far, no luck." She seemed scandalized by that and looked at her feet. Tenten and Sakura were relentless though, and soon the two had Hinata telling them all about her life as a lord's wife.

* * *

It was past midnight and everyone was asleep when Kyuubi nudged his host awake.

'**Get up brat. Time to check in on that pub.'**

'Right.'

The Jinchuuriki stood up, the covers whispering from his body without a sound and he peeled off his orange shirt, which would've marked him as a shinobi, and pulled a nondescript tan tanktop, then grabbed his cloak and padded out of the room, leaving his hirai-ate behind. The blond considered leaving a Kage Bunshin as cover, but decided against it. The team would find out tomorrow.

The honor guard and normal samurai were patrolling the grounds outside, but for Naruto, who was a jounin and had spent five years living and hunting in the shadows, was able to sneak by them no problem.

This was where his cloak came in handy. It served as cover for his arms, preventing the enemy from seeing his movements too much during the day, and at night, it helped him to blend with the shadows and made his figure blurry and distorted.

The human eye was drawn to movement and regular shape during the night. The cloak would shift in the slightest breeze, confounding the eye and making a sentry or guard overlook him altogether. The hood on the cloak hid his flaxen hair, which even on a moonless night, would stand out simply because of its light color.

A sentry shivered as something raced past his back and the guard thought he heard the slight rustle of fabric, but when he turned to look, there was nothing there. The man shrugged and continued on his rounds, never once looking up at the top of the wall. If he had, he would've seen a black shape crouching on the terra cotta shingles like a shadow that decided to take on life.

The moon slid behind a scudding cloud and when the grounds were once again bathed in pale silver light, the top of the wall was empty.

* * *

The pub looked like it was closed, but Naruto knew better. He could hear the loud and raucous voices, slurred by alcohol, on the other side and smell the sweet and sickly scents of various kinds of beer and sake.

The bar went dead silent when the door swung open, the grubby and sloshed patrons looking towards the door, a square of black against the rough wood paneling of the pub walls. A shadow detached itself from the blackness, seeming to glide across the floor with sounds like footsteps, striding across the room without a word.

A few of the more superstitious and hammered patrons fled the tavern, screaming incoherently about demons. The figure let them go, knowing that any explanation given to the authorities would be dismissed as the raving hallucinations of a drunken man.

One man sitting on a barstool gasped as the shadow sat down next to him, his stool sliding out from under him as the man crashed to the floor and crawled away to join a group of rough-looking men with a set of daito on their hips. Either ronin or mercenaries, Naruto couldn't guess.

The bartender was cleaning some roughly hewn wood mugs, glaring at the intruder who was looking more and more like he was a buzzkill which meant less business. The manager caught a flash of teeth as the shadow's mouth, hidden in the dark hole of his hood, moved.

"Sake."

"Thirty ryou."

The charged amount of money was put onto the table as a hand emerged from the rippling folds of the shadow's form. The bartender neatly palmed the money and pulled it towards him then set a sake bottle, nowhere near thirty ryou's worth, on the bar, along with a dish.

The man poured himself a bit and gulped it down.

The babble broke out again in the bar as the patrons decided the man wasn't there for trouble and soon the raucous babble was at its highest pitch again.

"Never seen you before," the bartender muttered to the shadow as it took another swig of sake. "Where're you from."

"Don't have a home," the man beneath the cloak answered simply.

The manager, a brutish looking man with beefy hairy arms and a bull neck perched on a barrel-like chest with close-set beady eyes and a full beard on a leathery face, shrugged. He got all sorts at his pub, ranging from the samurai at the lord's mansion, to the rabble that only came out at night. "Whatchya here for?"

The man under the cloth seemed to regard him for a moment.

"Information," he said finally, looking a little bit higher, and the bartender caught a flash of a brilliantly blue eye.

"Dunno nothin'" the bartender said as he began to move off.

"A man like you?" the shadow asked skeptically. "Come on, we both know you hear things from these jokers."

"So?"

The man pulled out another thirty ryou. "What do you know about the caravan attacks that've been happening in the mountain pass north of here?" The bartender prowled back to the shadow and snatched at the note, but the money was gone before he even got close. "Ah ah ah, information first."

The manager spit on the floor behind the bar then answered. "No one knows too much about them. Rumors are sayin' it's some kinda missing-nin group, but I don't buy that."

"Why not?"

"Ain't my business."

The shadow sighed, then put the thirty ryou on the table.

A rough voice broke in then. "You wanna know 'bout them attacks?" It was a man in a roughly sewn outfit of what looked like burlap, sitting in a booth off to Naruto's right. He had long gray hair that was held back in a ponytail and a scar that ran across his face like Iruka's did. Slate gray eyes drilled into Naruto's face. They were hazed over by spirits, but there was a fire in them that told the blond the man was only partly sloshed. The man's arms were burly and muscled, but not from overwork, like those of the farmers that lived around the village and farmed the left fork in the river. "I can tell ya."

The blond smirked to himself and slid over into the seat across from the man. Now Naruto could see the weapons the guy had on him. It was a kodachi, a sword of medium length between the katana and the wakizashi. It was an unusual choice but told Naruto that this guy wasn't at all unconfident with a sword if he carried something like that around.

"And what can you tell me?" Naruto asked politely.

The man belched loudly, exhaling the scent of strong beer into the Jinchuuriki's face. "Well, I'm not about to tell you that now. How about a bet?"

The blond bit his lip, weighing the options. If he didn't do it, this opportunity might slip through his fingers. On the other hand, he didn't gamble, but, Naruto supposed, he couldn't be anywhere _near_ as bad as Baa-chan.

"Shoot," he said finally.

The man grinned. "Well kid, if you can beat me in a fight, I'll tell ya what you need to know. If I win, though, you owe me my next round of drinks."

"Alright," Naruto agreed, thinking that this would be fairly easy.

"Well, then, follow me." The man stood and he shocked the hell out of the blond Konoha-nin when he didn't stagger once. Either he had the constitution of a rock, or he was hellishly resistance to booze. Either way, Naruto followed the man south, out of the village and up the path that Team Naruto had followed earlier that day into the village.

When they reached the top, the man turned off the path and led him into the forest that grew along the river. Finally, they came a clearing that had a rather wide stream running along its west side.

The man cracked his neck. "Well, might as well start," he muttered. "Name's Ren by the way."

Naruto reached up and lowered his hood. "I'm Sanosuke," he answered, giving an alias he'd used a few times during his work as a missing-nin so as not to tie his rather illegal actions to Konoha and disgrace the village more than he'd already done by becoming a missing-nin.

"Sanosushke," the other man repeated, showing that he wasn't as resilient to booze as Naruto thought he might've been, though a single slurred word didn't account for much. "Too damn long. I'll call ya Sano for short."

"Fair enough." Unbeknownst to Ren, Naruto had reached into his kunai pouches beneath the cloak and pulled the knives out, ready to hurl them into the other's shoulder joints and end the fight by jamming them.

"Well, let's go!" Ren shouted.

Naruto's cloak burst open, flaring like an expanding shadow, and the two kunai flashed from his hands, mere black streaks in the night, speeding right for the other man, who seemed not to notice.

There was a silver flash and a shower of sparks and the kunai fell to the ground. Ren's kodachi was in his hand and Naruto, to his dismay, hadn't even seen him draw it.

The swordsman looked almost disdainful. "Shinobi, eh?" The man's gray eyes searched Naruto's face and forehead. There was no haze of alcohol in them. The blond scowled as he realized that Ren had been pretending the entire time. He'd probably faked the scent of alcohol by either spilling it on his clothes or taking only a drink or two, as Naruto had done. "Lousy dishonorable bastards. Don't know the meaning of the word 'honor'."

"That would make you a samurai," Naruto answered. Then he smirked. "Or more like ronin, if your clothes are anything to go by."

The kodachi was returned to its sheath as Ren lowered himself into a stance that would allow him to dash forward and slash Naruto as he passed.

'Iaido,' Naruto realized. 'I've got one shot to block it!' He pulled out two kunai and brought them up to guard. 'Let's make it count!'

* * *

Well, that should be a good point to stop. So now we move into another arc. This chapter was mostly talk, but I had to do it to set up for the fights. So, Naruto's gonna fight a former samurai, which I think would be interesting. For those who caught it, yes, I am a Xenogears fan. I was looking for a name of a small village and Lahan was the first thing that came to mind, so I went with it. Oh, if you think Fukayama's an ass, well you're right. In my mind, Hinata's dad would never let her marry anyone other than a proper noble and in anime those guys tend to have metal rods rammed up their ass, so that was what I went with.

**Glossary**

**Daito: **Refers to both the Katana and the Wakizashi as a set. Only samurai are allowed to even wear them.

**Kodachi: **Exactly as I explained in the fic. A sword of medium length, between that of a Katana and a Wakizashi. Shinomori Aoshi from RuroKen uses two of the things and gives Kenshin a hard time.

**Sennen Goroshi (Thousand Years of Death/Pain):** If you don't know this one, you are very new to Naruto's world. Sakura describes it best. It's the Super Powerful Ass Poke. Like Orioke no Jutsu, it has yet to be defeated.

**Lahan: **Like I said, a village from Xenogears. Gets oblitereated within the first hour of the game when Fei goes crazy.


	21. Four Corners

Disclaimer: Own nothing 'cept my OC's

Last time: Naruto gets attacked in Konoha for his stunt with Ayame. After getting a mission to a village called Lahan to deal with a missing-nin group called the Four Corners, Naruto runs into a drunk ronin who volunteers information in return for a fight.

This Time: The fight, another fight and some old adversaries pop up.

* * *

"A shinobi cannot compare to a samurai who follows the way of Bushido," Ren stated coldly as his thumb moved forward, the sliver of his blade glinting in the moon's wan light. The sword flashed and a vicious slash appeared on Naruto's chest, his blue eyes showing his surprise as red blood splashed all over the grass around him, his knees hitting the ground with a hollow thud. "**Fuuryuusen**." The ronin followed through, the sword sliding into its sheath with a clink.

He turned to leave, but stopped as a chuckle stopped him.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

Ren snorted and turned back. "So you're still alive?"

Naruto laughed outright. "You didn't strike to kill so don't give me that bullshit. That wound wasn't deep enough to hit any vitals, and besides," he stood up and the samurai's eyes widened as he noticed that Naruto's chest was healing up, the wound closing before his eyes. In less than a minute, there was only a fading scar to denote an injury had been present just moments before, "it takes a lot more than that to kill me!"

The shinobi popped his neck as he flung the cloak aside.

"So, you're prepared to fight me openly? No hiding beneath your treacherous cloak?"

Ren's face showed confusion as Naruto fox-grinned at him, giving the man a thumbs down. "Like I'd lose to someone like you!"

Two black shapes burst from either side of the tree line, crisscrossing over each other as they headed for him.

"Treachery again!" Ren thundered as his sword left its sheath, another invisible slash slicing across the ground, visible only as a bending in the grass. One of the shapes was sliced in half at the waist, but the second used the first as a springboard to launch into the air, Ren's steel colored eyes tracking it as something attached to it flared wide, like a pair of reptilian wings or a shadow come to life.

The samurai darted backwards as kunai and shuriken littered the ground in front of him then his wrist was seized by a strong grip. It was Naruto, whose face was intense as he pulled the older warrior forward. Ren spun into him, grabbed the hand holding him and flung Naruto over his shoulder, who twisted in mid flight and landed like a cat.

Another pair of arms seized the ronin, though the samurai's right arm slipped free and the sword tip stabbed the interloper in the shoulder. Ren's face showed his surprise when the moonlight fell on the second attacker, revealing it to be Naruto, a sword buried deep in his right shoulder.

There was a puff of smoke and the second Naruto was gone.

Kunai passed Ren, trailing wire. Again the kodachi flashed and the wires fell away, each one sliced clean through.

Naruto grinned. "Not bad. That was special high tensile wire and you cut it like it wasn't even there. You're good!" Ren could sense no mocking or malice in the shinobi's tone.

"And you're not too bad either, for a shinobi."

"What do you have against ninja?" Naruto asked, mostly to stall for time as he tried to figure out a way past the kodachi. It was known as a shield-sword for a reason, and Ren had proven he could master it to the utmost degree. "What'd we ever do to you? I mean, most samurai really don't have a problem with us."

The ronin snorted and shouldered his sword. "You are nothing but malicious tricksters. You never fight a clean battle following any kind of honor code, always sneaking around in the shadows, behind the scenes. Even your leader, the Hokage, has shadow in the title. What honor can there possibly be in that?"

"Keh, shows what you know!" Ren's eyebrow lifted at the shinobi's vehement denial. "The Hokage may mean Fire Shadow, but not one of them was ever a coward. The Shodai founded Konoha and the Nidaime led it through the First and Second Secret Shinobi Wars. The Sandaime gave his life to protect the village from the invasion, just as the Yondaime sold his soul to seal the Kyuubi no Yoko! And the Godaime may be an old hag, but she's not doing too bad either!"

"So your leaders are honorable, perhaps, but are you? Konohagakure and the other villages all derive money from their ability to slip through the shadows and kill in secret. Do you call that kind of job honorable?"

"It's just a job," Naruto answered.

Ren spit on the ground between them. "And that is what separates the samurai from the barbarians in this world. We only strive for honor, not how much money we can make off of someone's death." His sword came off his shoulder; clenched in two hands by his side, tip down.

Naruto shrugged. "Whatever. I didn't come to get philosophical with you. I came for information on the Four Corners, so either tell me or I'll just beat it out of you."

The ronin smirked. Whatever his perceptions on shinobi were, this blond firebrand had certainly impressed him, if only through his fighting abilities. "Well then you might as well turn around now, because you will never defeat me."

Naruto sighed, rubbing his blond hair. "If I had a ryou for ever time I've heard that one," he quipped, before grinning at the samurai warrior. "Well, guess I'll just have to prove you wrong too." He held a hand out to one side and to Ren's surprise, chakra began to swirl in his palm, forming a small sphere that looked like it was a handheld hurricane.

"What technique is that?"

"The personal jutsu of the Yondaime Hokage," Naruto answered with a grin. "This is the Rasengan."

"A fitting name indeed," said Ren, nodding. "I would never want to get hit by that technique." He crouched low, as if about to sprint at Naruto. "And so I shan't. You've fought well, Sano-kun, but it ends here." He leapt into the air, soaring above the treetops, the sword flashing as he began his descent. "**Ryuutsuisen**!"

"**Rasengan**!" Naruto shouted, slamming his palm into the ground. There was a huge explosion and the samurai was force to squint as he dropped into the cloud than hung where the shinobi had been. The gray-haired samurai grinned when he saw a black shadow loom in his vision.

"It was a nice attempt, Sano-kun, but you still lose!" The sword flashed and the shadow dissolved into smoke the moment the Dragon Hammer hit. "What!?"

A second shadow lunged at him and slammed hard into the ronin, knocking him off balance, then he tripped over something behind him and before he could hit the ground, there was immense pressure on every inch of his body.

"Wha-?" his eyes went wide when the smoke cleared and revealed just what had happened. There was a Naruto standing from a rush, a Naruto on the ground on all fours, and four Narutos all sitting on him, one's foot pinning his wrist to the ground. The samurai had to laugh at what'd happened as the six blondes all grinned along with him. "Impressive, Sano-san, very impressive. This is a dishonorable way to win, attacking when I cannot see, but it is not without a certain amusement value."

"Glad to hear," the Naruto with his foot on Ren's wrist answered, "Now, about that information you owe me?"

"Yes yes, the information. First, you let me up, then we talk."

"Deal." There was a burst of smoke and all the weight on Ren's body disappeared. The Naruto on all fours was the one that remained. "So you took part in your offensive instead of hiding like a coward, Sanosuke-san."

"Why should I let my clones have all the fun?" Naruto answered with a laugh. "By the way, my real name's Uzumaki Naruto."

"A false name? Why use one?"

"Well, my real name can be tracked to Konoha right? Would you have agreed to tell me if I said I was from Konoha?"

"No. Well, perhaps we should talk then. I do not like the fact that you are a shinobi, but this kind of thing cannot be helped. I gave you my word to talk and so I shall."

The pair sat down on a fallen log at the edge of the clearing.

"So, you wish to know about the Four Corners then? Fine. I can tell you plenty about them. They first showed up about three years ago. At first, the lord in charge of Lahan did nothing to stop them since he believed them to be weak troublemakers who would pass from the village in time. When they did not leave, the lord took action against them, leading his honor guard and a platoon of his finest soldiers into the pass to clear them out."

"Were you on the team that went in?"

Ren nodded. "Yes, I was with them. We fought a great battle, but in the end, we were defeated by their underhanded schemes, and the lord was killed. His lordship had no wife and no living relatives, so the lord's seat went to the next of kin, who happened to be his cousin. I did not agree with Fukayama, so I left the samurai and became a ronin."

"So why hang around this village? You're a good swordsman. You could probably become one of the Fire Daimyo's guards."

The ronin smiled sadly. "I cannot leave. Though I'm disgraced and considered worthless by my comrades and lord, I cannot abandon this city. I refuse to turn my back on Lahan." He looked at Naruto. "Surely you can understand, Naruto-kun."

Now it was the blonde's turn to smile sadly. "Yeah. I know. So anyway, enough sob stories. About the people in the Four Corners?"

"Right. The shinobi themselves are rather formidable, each one being proficient in a different category of ninjutsu. I'm sure you're familiar with what I speak of?"

"Chakra types."

"Right. I do not know their names, but only that they all dress in long black coats with the symbol for their element embroidered in the back in the color most closely associated with it. For example, fire is red, earth is green and so on." The ronin's hand clenched on the hilt of his kodachi. "I would deal with them myself, but I'm not a shinobi and I don't know how to deal with underhanded tactics like theirs."

"Well, you've helped me out more than you know," Naruto told him. "I'm the leader of a shinobi team that's come here on Hinata-chan's orders to clear those bastards out."

"Really? Hinata-sama bade you to come?"

"Yeah…whatever bade means."

The samurai laughed outright, not unkindly, but with happiness. "Well then, Uzumaki Naruto, I wish you good luck." He stood and began heading for the village again. "Should you ever need help, just ask."

"You sure you want to help out a shinobi?"

"No, but you are not a shinobi. You are an anomaly and that makes you interesting. I want to see where this encounter takes you Uzumaki, and I also want to see just how much you were holding back in that fight just now."

Naruto looked stunned, then smiled. He should've known that an experienced fighter like Ren could sense when someone held back. "That goes for you too, Ren. Oh!" The samurai stopped. "Just one more thing. What's Hinata-chan mean to you?"

"To me? Well, I can honestly say that she's the one person in that entire damn estate that I can be around and truly enjoy their company." He resumed walking and within moments had been swallowed by the shadows.

"Well, that was productive," Naruto remarked to thin air. The response was nonverbal.

'**Still, you didn't get much out of him.'** Kyuubi pointed out.

'Maybe, but at least now we know what to look for when we go out on escort duty.'

Naruto stood and followed Ren down the path.

* * *

"So we're looking for long coats with the symbols on the back of them?" Neji asked the next morning as the four sat in their room, eating, or in Naruto's case, devouring, breakfast.

"Yeah."

"And what source did you get this information from?"

"One I trust."

"Let me get this straight," Sakura said, "you met him at a bar, challenged him to a fight, won the fight and then he told you what he knew? Naruto, that's not a source that's just a drunkard running his mouth!"

"Maybe, but it's more than we have right now, isn't it?"

"He does have a point," Tenten interjected before the others could get after the blond again. "Now we need to hurry up. The caravan leaves in an hour and we need to be there."

The others nodded and breakfast was finished quickly and the four shinobi left the compound, heading for the departure point, a small pass-control at the foot of the winding mountain road that led into the pass.

On the way out of the manor, they passed Oda and Yoritomo sparring. Naruto watched what he could without being obvious, taking in the sword techniques, but they were unfamiliar to him. It wasn't a style he'd seen, but then again, he hadn't really seen that many. Both father and son were studiously trying to avoid looking at the shinobi.

'Just you wait. When this is all over, I'm gonna make sure I show you why I'm the best damn prankster in Konoha!' The blond Jinchuuriki vowed as they passed through the gates, nodded farewell to Aoshi, and headed for the meeting point.

* * *

It took the shinobi all morning to climb the mountain trail, slowed as they were by the fifty or so traders and their donkeys, which were laden in turn with huge packs of merchandise. What the missing-nin gained by stealing this stuff was beyond them. Most of it was worthless, just little trinkets and so forth, but it'd been said that there was a sucker born every minute, so Naruto supposed that there was some poor bastard out there who just had to have what the missing-nin put up for sale, no matter the price.

At the entrance to the pass, which was just a hollowed out bowl before the narrower path between two mountain peaks, they stopped and ate then were on their way again, the shinobi moving out and ahead, then doubling back in an endless racetrack.

Neji and Tenten had been paired together, at Neji's suggestion, because it would take time to work out team dynamics and it was safer to stick with people they knew how to fight with. The Hyuuga had also pointed out that Tenten's long range would complement his close range.

The same held true for Sakura and Naruto too, so they were paired together, both teams never once ceasing their vigil.

The pass opened out wider, becoming more of a bowl than a pass and it was filled with grasses and flowers with the shallow slopes of mountain peaks rising all around them. Neji looked tense, scanning the entire area with his Byakugan.

"I don't like this," he muttered. "It's too open."

The others could only nod in agreement. The traders didn't like being in the open anymore than the shinobi did and the whole caravan quickened its pace.

"How much further?" Naruto asked the head tradesman. The man's eyes flicked from side to side, scanning the ridges around them and the entire field, looking for the slightest hint of the enemy.

"Not much further," he replied. "The border is only two miles past that entrance over there. Get us there, and we can move fast the rest of the way."

"Only two miles?" Neji asked, coming up beside them. "That's still a long way off, but if I were going to attack then it would be…"

A massive wall of earth sprang up in front of them. Naruto recognized it. He'd seen it once before when he was training to develop Rasenshuriken.

Doton: Doryuu Jouheki. The Earth Rampart. This was wasn't as impressive as Yamato's, but it did do its job in that it sealed the exit out of the valley. There was a small earthquake that knocked the traders off their feet and sent their animals running as a second rampart sprang from the ground behind them and cut off their escape route.

They were trapped.

"Well well well, look at what got trapped in our web," said a voice as two people appeared on top of the rampart. "Another caravan to raid!" The speaker was a man with fluffy red hair. Ren hadn't been kidding when he said that the Four Corners used their element's most known color. Long coats fluttered wildly over bare chests with the abdomen wrapped in bandages and their pants were gray and black camouflage like what the Oto-nin used to wear.

"Sweet! This is gonna rock!" called a second voice. It wasn't the earth user either. The speaker was on the wall behind them, his wild blond hair stuck out everywhere like he'd stuck his finger in an electrical socket.

"Can it you moron," huffed the kunoichi next to him, her breasts wrapped like the men's stomachs. Her eyes were a crystal blue, just as clear as Naruto's and her hair was silvery, done up in an elegant topknot with a ponytail that fell to the middle of her back. In her hand was a naginata with a wicked-looking blade and a red ribbon tied around the shaft.

The last man snorted. "Lets just crush them and get it over with," he moaned, his voice sounding slow when compared to the others, especially the blond one, who seemed to be chattering nonstop. The earth-user looked almost normal, with brown hair and brown eyes. Contrary to what was expected out of him, his build was slender, with no real visible muscle, aside from what little they could see from beneath his coat.

Naruto's eyes shifted left then right, looking for a way out of the mountain's bowl. They could've climbed the slopes, but with the mules and donkeys running around like chickens with their heads cut off, there was no way the pack animals were getting up a mountainside. The only way out seemed to be either front or back and both of those were blocked.

An idea came to him.

"Sakura," he murmured, "Can you break down that wall in front of us?"

The kunoichi sized up the wall and shrugged. "I might. I don't know how thick it is though, so there's no way to tell."

The former missing-nin grinned. "Fine then, here's what we do…" he whispered his plan and what he had in mind was good.

"That might work," Sakura answered. "Between the two of us, we might be able to pull this thing off."

"Right. Go!"

They blurred forward, sprinting all out at the wall, Naruto's cloak flaring behind him as he charged a Rasengan in one hand as Sakura pulled on the gloves she used to protect her knuckles from the super strength she'd learned from the Godaime Hokage herself.

None of the Four Corners seemed concerned at all.

At least, not until Sakura's fist made contact with the wall.

A gout of earth blasted backwards, concealing Sakura and Naruto totally as a spider web fracture spread over the surface of the wall. The fragments began crumbling then a ball of blue light became apparent in the smoke and haze.

"**Rasengan**!" Naruto thundered. The Yondaime's jutsu slammed home and a second explosion ripped through the rampart, totally blowing out the back of the earthen wall, forcing the two shinobi on top to jump clear as their footing crumbled. The Jinchuuriki turned. "Now!" he shouted at the traders, "Run for it!"

There was bedlam for a moment before the caravan got clear, pelting pell-mell down the narrow pass on the other side. The yellow haired Corner cursed and leapt from his wall, pelting toward the shattered rampart to pursue the caravan.

Four blurs appeared in front of him and the missing-nin was forced to spring back or risk running into the wall of Konoha shinobi. The other three shinobi rallied around him and the eight ninja went into a stare down.

The red-head's eyes searched the hirai-ate that was tied securely around Naruto's forehead. The man snorted. "Konoha, huh? It's about time one of the villages stuck their nose into our business." He poked himself in the chest with a prideful finger. "You can call me Hyotoko."

The Four Corners blond grinned widely. He seemed to be nothing but a ball of energy, though that would explain his affinity for lightning. "Heya! Y'all can call me Rai!"

The kunoichi sighed. "I'm this idiot's cousin. Name's Aisha."

The slender earth user blinked almost balefully. "You may call me…Enishi."

"Why tell us your names?" Neji asked.

Hyotoko smiled. "Because, it's only fair for the killers to tell their victims their names."

Naruto smirked. "Well in that case, I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

"Hyuuga Neji."

"Tenten."

"Haruno Sakura."

The two teams stared each other down again, then all at once sprang into motion.

Naruto and Hyotoko sprinted at each other, kunai slipping from the sleeve of the redhead's sleeve and flashing from beneath the Jinchuuriki's cloak. They met in a flash of sparks, bounced apart, then sprinted toward the other side of the mountain bowl, keeping pace with the other.

Aisha and Tenten went at it, the Konoha kunoichi pulling a naginata from her scroll, spinning it elegantly before leveling the tip at Aisha, who answered in kind, then they leapt into the air, weapons flashing, the blades ringing as they met again and again, the wooden shafts clattering noisily.

Rai lunged at Neji, who's Byakugan flared to life and he ducked beneath the wild punch of the blond, his kekkei genkai catching a flash of the kanji for lightning embroidered on his back. The Hyuuga prodigy didn't pursue, simply allowing Rai to come back at him from behind.

"Gotcha, Pretty Boy!"

"**Hakkeshou Kaiten**!"

Neji spun and the blond rammed headlong into the barrier of chakra before getting thrown backwards, flat onto his back. The blond kicked to his feet and grinned.

Sakura and Enishi were already embroiled in battle, throwing punches left and right, the strikes glancing off one another and not doing any real damage.

"Not bad, for a brat."

Sakura snorted. "I'll show you brat!" she shouted, sprinting at the earth user again.

Across the field, Hyotoko and Naruto were a blur of motion as they fought hand to hand. They clashed again, their knives grating against one another.

"Pretty good blondie," Hyotoko grunted as he tried to overpower his opponent. Naruto was having none of it, however, and dug his heels in, stopping the other shinobi cold.

Naruto grinned. "Just wait," he said, pushing back, bringing a speculative look to the Flame Man's eyes. "It gets better!" The Jinchuuriki shoved, knocking the redhead off balance then sprang into the air. A single shuriken spun from his fingers, then his hands folded together, flying through hand seals. "**Ninpou! Kage Shuriken no Jutsu!**"

"Shit!"

The missing-nin darted all over, barely dodging the hail of shuriken.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**"

There was a burst and Hyotoko was surrounded by a ring of clones, all of which began to make seals. "**Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!**"

Fire sprayed from the mouths of every clone.

"Aww hell."

The missing nin was lost amid the flames that engulfed him. The fireballs stopped and the clones burst from existence. "Ha! Take that!" Naruto crowed. "I call it Ring of Fire!"

"Apt name," said a voice behind him. "Too bad it wasn't enough."

"Hu….Ghaa!" Naruto began to turn, but a hand suddenly thrust itself through his chest, blood spraying everywhere, splashing on the grass and flowers. The other battles stopped at the sound of Naruto's scream.

"Naruto!" Tenten shouted as the other two teammates looked on, stunned. Hyotoko pulled out his hand and the impaled blond fell to the ground, unmoving.

"Well that's that," the redhead missing-nin remarked as he flicked the blood from his fingers and stuck his hands in his pockets, walking back towards the others. "The rest of you hurry it up. I want to get dinner sometime today."

A voice made him look back around. "Hey, you jerk, don't write me off just yet!"

"Impossible!" Aisha shouted as Naruto picked himself up, any sign of a wound gone from his body. The only thing showing was the patch of scar tissue on his left shoulder blade and shoulder, the old wound marked by smaller wounds that looked like some big bird had pecked at him. "You should be dead!"

"I've been told that a lot," the jounin answered casually, leveling a finger at Hyotoko. "Now you bastard, you owe me a new shirt, vest and cloak!"

The Konoha shinobi were bolstered by Naruto's surprise and pressed their attacks. Neji sank into a Jyuuken stance, his arms held in front of him and out behind, leaning forward, almost touching the fingers of his lower hand to the ground. "**Hakke, Rokujuuyonshou!**"

Rai didn't even get a chance to ask what the prodigy was doing before he was slammed by sixty-four strikes, each one hitting a chakra point. Blood flew from the blonde's mouth as he flew back and slammed to the ground, out cold from the sudden shut down of his inner coils.

"Rai!" Aisha shouted, taking her eyes off Tenten for a split second. That was all that was needed. Tenten leapt high into the air, putting the sun at her back, forcing the other kunoichi to shield her eyes, and unfurled her scroll. There were explosions all up and down the scroll's length as weapons of every size, shape, category and design rained down on the Four Corners member sparkling as the rain of metal caught the sunlight. All the speeding weapons kicked up a massive dust cloud, which spilled over Sakura and Enishi.

"Shit," the Doton user cursed, right before his vision was filled with black leather knuckles. Sakura's blow hit hard, shattering his nose and sending him rolling head over heels into the massive hill of shattered stone that used to be the first rampart.

Hyotoko looked around, gritting his teeth right before the Konoha team surrounded him.

"Aw crap," he muttered.

"Now," Neji ground out, Byakugan flaring. "Why are you stealing the from these caravans?" His fingers were flexing in an odd display of irritation from the usually icy Hyuuga man.

"Che, like I'd tell you?" answered the missing-nin. "Later!"

Before the Konoha-nin could react, he made a single hand seal and the world went dark.

"Genjutsu!" Neji shouted as the team made the appropriate countermove. "Kai!" When the darkness shattered like breaking glass, the Four Corners were gone. "They got away?"

"Looks like it," Naruto answered. "Think we bought the caravan enough time?"

"Should have," Tenten replied, looking as pissed as the rest of them that the enemy had gotten away.

"We should look around for anything they might've left behind," Sakura suggested. "It would tell us a lot about them." Having nothing better to do, the four set out to do just that, but came up empty.

"Well that was useless," Naruto muttered. "Still, it helps that we fought them. Now we know what to expect. I didn't expect a bunch of missing-nin to be such pushovers!"

"Well, you're used to dealing with Akatsuki," Neji answered. "Every one of them is an S-ranked missing-nin. These guys are B or A at best."

'**Aww man!' **moaned Naruto's inner demon. **'And here I thought that I'd get some enjoyment out of this!'** The blond just shook his head with a sigh.

* * *

While Team Naruto headed back towards Lahan, the Four Corners were running as fast as they could through the mountain range that'd surrounded the bowl-shaped battlefield, Enishi carrying the unconscious Rai.

"Hyotoko, just who the hell are they? We didn't have that much trouble with the Samurai!" Aisha shouted over the wind in their ears and the scuffing of their feet across the ground. "And what was with that blond guy?"

"No idea," the leader answered as they touched down at their camp, a small ring of rock that was laced with explosive tags and wire. Only the missing-nin themselves knew the safe route through the traps. "Whoever they are, they're troublesome."

"Having trouble with the Nine-tailed brat, huh?" asked a voice from the shadows.

"Who's there!?" Aisha demanded, whipping her naginata off her back and brandishing it.

"Relax," the voice said, stepping from the shadows. It was a tall man with blue skin and shark-like features, a massive bandaged sword strapped across his back, his body swathed in a black jacket-like cloak with red clouds decorating the exterior. "We're just here to talk."

"We?" Hyotoko asked. "There's only one of you!"

The shark man laughed outright, showing pointed teeth. "Good one. I guess you four really aren't as good as we thought, eh, Itachi?"

"It would appear so, Kisame," replied another voice. The three conscious shinobi spun, surprised, as a second man melted out of the darkness between the rocks. His eyes were a vivid crimson with three tomoe circling the pupil, a scratched Konoha hirai-ate visible beneath his high bangs.

Hyotoko's eyes widened. "Uchiha Itachi!" he gasped. "That would make you…"

"Akatsuki," the former Konoha-nin replied, his voice a low monotone.

Aisha grinned. "Hey, Hyotoko, there's a big ass bounty on these bastards heads. If you're right, then the other one is Hoshigaki Kisame, from Kirigakure. If we take them both in, we get rich fast!"

Itachi stepped further into the light, his Sharingan seeming to look at all four shinobi at once. "I believe Kisame told you that we only wished to talk."

"Why?"

"Because, dumbass," Kisame answered roughly, tugging at Samehada's hilt in agitation, "you want the Konoha shinobi out of the way and we want one of them. You scratch our backs and we won't lacerate yours. Deal?"

"I don't like this," Aisha muttered out of the corner of her mouth to Hyotoko. The redhead wasn't paying attention to her.

"Which Konoha-nin do you want and why?" He demanded.

"We want the blonde, Uzumaki Naruto-kun," Itachi answered, seeing no problem in telling the four missing-nin. The more they knew about Naruto and his demon partner the better. It would put them on guard and make them more cautious in dealing with him, "because he is the Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi no Yoko."

The stunned looks on the upstart's faces was worth that little revelation, Kisame decided with a savage grin.

"Jin…chuuriki?" Aisha breathed. "No way, they really exist? I always thought that they were a legend."

"They are real, I assure you," murmured Itachi.

"Why do you want him so badly?" prodded Enishi. He gulped as he found himself staring into a dull and flat Sharingan. This guy could kill them all without a second's hesitation, Enishi realized, and if he did, then they were all screwed. To go against these two missing-nin would be…ill advised at best.

"That is not for you to know," the Uchiha traitor answered bluntly. "We shall return in three days for your reply. Do whatever you wish during that time and have an answer when we come back." With that, the former ANBU captain stepped back into the shadows and was gone. When the three looked behind them, Kisame was gone as well.

Aisha shivered. "I never thought Akatsuki could be so intimidating."

Laughter cut the air, coming from Hyotoko.

"Huh? Hyotoko? The hell's up with you?"

"I have an idea. We're going to negotiate our way into Akatsuki."

The other two looked at him like he'd gone crazy.

"Did you lose your fucking mind!?" Enishi asked.

"Look, I've heard rumors of the Akatsuki, even before the Four Corners was founded. They're up to something big and this is our chance to get in on it!" He looked from one comrade to the other. "Think about it! We wouldn't have to rob these pathetic convoys to get by and we wouldn't have to be continuously dodging ANBU border patrols!"

"But these are S-class missing-nin we're dealing with here!" Aisha protested, not believing the words from her leader's mouth. "If we get entangled with them…Damn I don't even wanna think about it! Anyway, Konoha has pretty much left us alone till now. If we join Akatsuki, we'll end up on their shit list. Didn't you hear what happened to Sasori no Akasuna, Deidara, that Jashin freak and his partner? It's been all over the underworld for the last few years now. All of them dead, killed off by some kickass team of Konoha-nin that's included everyone from that Sakura bitch Enishi fought all the way to Sharingan Kakashi!"

"With Akatsuki, we won't have to worry about them! Even rats can get lucky. That team you're rambling about was all chuunin and one genin. They got fucking lucky. Not gonna happen this time. I don't care what you guys say, I'm going to capture Uzumaki Naruto and use him to get into Akatsuki!"

The other two sighed.

"Well, someone has to keep your ass safe," Aisha answered, "so I guess I'm in."

"We're a team," Enishi added. "It would be a shame to break it up now. So, where do we start?"

"Well that noble family in Lahan is the client for their mission right? We start with them. Now, here's what we do…"

It was long after Rai woke up and agreed to the plan with almost no hesitation that the Four Corners had their operation all planned out and ready to go.

* * *

True to his word, Itachi and Kisame appeared again three days later and asked for the Four Corners' answer.

"We're in," Hyotoko said with a slightly savage grin.

Itachi nodded. "Very well. Kisame and I will accompany you, but the operation and the capture of Naruto-kun is yours and yours alone."

Kisame grinned toothily. "We clear on that kiddies?"

Hyotoko bowed low. "Crystal clear," he said smoothly. "Give us two days and we'll have a plan for you."

Itachi nodded and the two Akatsuki again left the Four Corners' camp.

"Hey, Itachi, you really think that it's a good idea to use them? I don't like it."

"A necessary evil," Itachi answered, not looking at Kisame. "I don't expect the Four Corners to be able to catch Naruto-kun. Even without the Kyuubi, he is wily and powerful enough to escape their clutches."

The shark man grinned as he saw the scope of Itachi's plan. "So, we use them to soften up the gaki and wear him out, then we move in and take him right?" Itachi didn't say anything as he walked away, but Kisame knew he'd hit the nail on the head.

His grin widened.

This, he decided, was going to get interesting.

* * *

And that ends this chapter. Sorry if the fighting was short and all that, but they were only meant to set the stage, not be epic battles. This is going to be somewhat of a short arc, certianly shorter than the Exams arc (I think. I have to see where the story goes). So anyway, Itachi and Kisame are back in the picture, and that's gonna mean trouble for one blond Jinchuuriki. Oh yeah, just for future reference, Itachi will NOT die of a fucking DISEASE! That pissed me off so much. He was hyped so much, had this big ass battle with Sasuke, WON that battle 'cause he could still walk and Sasuke had nothing, then keeled over and died. My story diverges from the Naruto plotline somewhere after Asuma's death, so yeah, that's your reference point. Anyway, that's all for now.

If I've made an error with the jutsu below, specifically Neji's techniuqes, please let me know and I'll fix it.

**Glossary**

**Fuuryusen (Wind Dragon Strike (I think)): **An original jutsu. By swinging a sword very fast and hard, combined with Chakra, a blade of wind is projected from the tip. A master could possibly cut a diamond in half, though the power decreases with distance.

**Ryutsuisen (Dragon Hammer Strike): **Taken directly from Rurouni Kenshin and adapted to the Narutoverse. No I'm not going to make Ren use Hiten-Mitsurugi Ryu, but I will use the techniques, and some from Saito and Aoshi.

**Hakkeshou Kaiten (Eight Palms Heavenly Spin): **Neji rotates at high speed as he expels chakra from every opening. The result is a dome of spinning chakra that is damn near impossible to pierce, though he can be stopped by attacking before the spin starts or tangling up the spin through webs or wire. Also throws the attacker's power straight back at him or her.

**Hakke Rokujuuyonshou (Eight Palms Sixty Four Strikes (or is it Palm Strike? Either way, it uses sixty four of them))**: Neji strikes sixty four times with Juuken, each attack hitting a chakra point on the coil system and closing it. If enough are closed, unconciousness, or in the case of the higher strike numbers, death, can result. Thanks to RasenganUser13 for pointing out my error with that. It's been fixed and is no longer a problem.


	22. Burning

Disclaimer: Own nothing

Last time: Akatsuki gets involved with Four Corners

This time: Fights and something that should make you Hinata fans out there happy!

* * *

"I heard that you tangled with the Four Corners. Did you kill them?"

Naruto stopped walking. He was strolling through the streets of Lahan, taking in the state of the town and the surrounding mountains as the sun sank below the valley ridges. It was a small town, but the houses and buildings were all smashed together, making a whole maze of alleys and back alleys and dead ends and other nooks and crannies.

"Nah, they ran off before we could get anything done," the blond answered the speaker, turning around to see Ren emerging from an alley beside him. "They shouldn't do too much though. My team and I have dealt with Akatsuki before this, so it shouldn't be anything major." The ronin began walking with the jounin.

"That may be, but even insignificant whelps can get lucky and cut down even the greatest of warriors." The older man glanced sideways at his companion. "I'm sure that this holds true for you as well?"

"Yeah. My sensei always told me that a shinobi needs to 'look underneath the underneath'."

"A wise philosophy."

They lapsed into silence for a few minutes, just strolling through the village. Finally Naruto broke the silence.

"Hey, why don't you come and meet my team? I'm sure they'll like you."

"No. I'm not allowed to show my face in the estate. I have been permanently banned from there."

"Aw. Oh well. I'm sure you'll run into them eventually." The blond frowned. "Speaking of which, I'd better be getting back. Sakura's going to bash my head in if I'm late."

Ren chuckled. "Sounds like you have violent teammates, Naruto-kun."

"You have no idea," the other deadpanned, then dashed off, vaulting easily onto the roofs of the houses and buildings, the evening crowd pointing and whispering at the ease and grace that the shinobi moved with. Ren watched then laughed and turned away, heading for the hut he lived in on the edge of town.

* * *

"Where have you been!?" Sakura demanded the moment Naruto walked through the door of the team's room.

Naruto decided it was too easy to pass up. "I had to help an old lady with her groceries…"

"Bastard!" Sakura shrieked, a vein going in her forehead, her fist crashing into Naruto's face and sending him flying through the door. Hinata blinked as Naruto landed, eyes swirling and a massive knot on his forehead, at her feet.

"N-Naruto-kun?" She asked.

"Leave him Hinata-chan!" Sakura fumed, massaging the bicep of her raised arm. "I'm not done with him yet!"

Neji's arm appeared and blocked her way. "As much as Naruto deserved that," he stated, "the fact remains that we need him intact for this mission. Please refrain from breaking him too much."

"Sure," the kunoichi replied, brushing past the genius only to find a stone doll with a childish face drawn on it and wearing Naruto's cloak in front of her. Three more veins bulged on Sakura's impressive forehead. "DAMN YOU NARUTO!"

Naruto, reclining on the terra cotta roof of the main house, shuddered as Sakura's yell echoed over the grounds, several of the patrolling samurai stopping and looking around for the source of the noise. He shuddered.

"Jeeze," he muttered, "Sakura-chan's really violent."

'**Well you keep pushing her buttons,' **his inner demon replied.

Naruto grinned, unrepentant. "Yeah but it's fun." The fox sighed and shook its mammoth head. Humans. Couldn't live with them, too big to flush down the toilet. The sun had vanished a couple hours ago and the grounds began to empty as the shifts began to rotate out for the night.

An explosion rocked the grounds, the sky lighting up orange as the light from the detonation flashed over the estate, the wall that abutted the foothills of the mountains blown inwards from some kind of hit. Smoke and fire billowed into the sky, blotting out the rising moon and the emerging stars. Naruto was on the scene just as the samurai were arriving. Something shot from the billowing smoke and Naruto's eyes widened as the samurai around him simply burst apart in a shower of blood, splashing him and the ground around him with the fluid.

He turned as he heard the almost invisible noise of a foot hitting the ground.

"Aisha, right?" He asked. The woman was standing behind him, her naginata firmly planted on the ground, the blade stained red. The kunoichi grinned.

"That's right."

Naruto pulled out a kunai and held it out. The two wind users stared each other down for a moment, then vanished, blurs and showers of sparks filling the air as the two ninja met, clashed, separated and met again, going ever faster until even the blurs were invisible. They reappeared in a deadlock, Naruto now holding two kunai and fending off Aisha's blade.

"Not bad," the Jinchuuriki said as he strained to hold back the other. "Maybe we underestimated you guys." Aisha swept the blunt end of the naginata at Naruto's groin, which was blocked, only to reverse the direction and send the blade screaming downward. Naruto threw himself backwards, the blade digging into the ground and slicing it apart in a spray of earth. When it settled, there was a gash just like the ones Naruto and the others had found a few days earlier in the pass. But that didn't help him any since he already knew her element.

"And we underestimated you!" Aisha bit back. She smirked. "Who would've thought we'd have to fight a Jinchuuriki?" Naruto hesitated a split second at the mention of his demon and paid for it in blood.

Aisha's blade swept across his body and opened a deep gash from right shoulder to left him. Naruto stumbled backwards, clutching the gash, as the naginata darted forward, just a dim streak in the moonlight, biting into him again and again, blood spattering the shattered wall and the grass as well as dying the ornamental pond crimson. Finally Aisha reversed her swing and opened another gash that went the other way. Naruto was thrown backwards, flat onto his back, wincing as he lay there.

He was trying to let the wounds heal up some. If he moved too much now, Kyuubi would only be wasting chakra since he would just be always reopening the wounds by moving around and fighting.

"Hmph. That's it? For someone who is the cage for Kyuubi, you don't put up much of a fight. How Akatsuki had so much trouble with you, I have no idea." Naruto's eyes, shut till now in an effort to stave off the pain, snapped open at the mention of the cloaked missing-nin organization.

"Akatsuki?" he demanded, sitting upright, wincing as the two gashes across his chest reopened and began bleeding anew. "What do they have to do with this!?" The kunoichi scowled as she realized that she'd said too much. "Tell me!"

"Why do you care?"

Naruto lunged, his eyes flashing crimson for the briefest of seconds. His wild blow was easily deflected and the blade of the naginata bit deep into his thigh, the leg instantly giving out and sending Naruto crashing to the ground. Aisha stood over him, weapon raised.

"Too bad we have to take you alive," she said. "But at least Itachi didn't say you had to be whole. I'm gonna slash of your legs and make you easier to carry." The weapon flashed, right as a hail of senbon flashed from the shadows. Aisha leapt up, somersaulting over the rushing silver rain, landing feather light behind it. "Who's there!"

Three kunai flashed from another direction, and Aisha again leapt clear. "Another one?" Her naginata flashed and the grass bent as something left the edge and shot away into darkness. Naruto's eyes widened. It was startlingly close to the Fuuryusen he'd seen Ren use on him, but it moved slower and didn't seem to be as powerful. He could only guess at why, but supposed it had something to do with the iaido portion of the attack.

Again senbon streamed from the shadows, but this time it was only from one source. Apparently the first attacker had been cut down.

"Now I've got you!"

Aisha charged, zigzagging to avoid a third shower of needles. The naginata's blade flashed as the kunoichi missing-nin hurled the weapon like a spear. She heard it hit something in the shadows and went to it. She frowned when she saw that there was no one there, no one but three discarded scrolls that were probably the source of the senbon rains.

Aisha leapt backward as someone dropped from the bottom of the veranda's roof, a sword sticking into the teak floor where she'd been standing a moment before. Fortunately, she'd had the presence of mind to seize her naginata on the way out. The figure lunged again, the sword twirling and dancing with a grace that Aisha had never seen before. Sparks burst like fireworks as the steel weapons met again and again, parrying and striking at the wielder of the other. The attacker hurled something, which Aisha batted aside.

There was a muted puff and smoke obscured the veranda.

"Smoke bomb!"

A katana blade shot from the gloom, nearly slipping Aisha's guard and slicing her side open. The missing-nin spun away from the blade only to have another spear at her. She jumped back ducking as a third blade shot from behind her. The naginata flashed on instinct and the black shadow holding the sword was cut in half, but burst into smoke before the halves hit the ground.

"Shadow Clones too?" She spun the weapon in her hands furiously, deflecting the flurry of attacks that came at her from the smoke. She forced them back and raised the naginata. "Screw this! Fight like a real ninja!" Aisha began to spin the weapon, focusing her chakra into the ends and converting it to wind before pushing it out around her.

The smoke began to swirl, forming a miniature tornado before dissipating completely. The sources of the attacks were expose. Each one was Tenten, and each was fighting to be pulled in by the suction of the tornado. Aisha allowed her body to spin with the momentum of her weapons and slashed each Tenten across the chest.

Both exploded into smoke.

"All of them were clones? But the original was behind the senbon, I know that." Aisha looked around and quickly spotted the real Tenten, scooping up Naruto, and supporting him. She made a hand seal, made three more Tentens then all four hurled smoke bombs.

"No!" Aisha lunged, not about to let her quarry get away so easily. The clones lunged from the smoke and grabbed at her. "Stay back dammit!" A quick flurry of attacks on her part had all three clones dispelling, but by the time the kunoichi was able to clear out the smoke, Naruto and Tenten were gone.

Inside the mansion, Tenten set Naruto against a wall and began to wipe dried blood from his chest so the wounds didn't heal over it and run the risk of infection. "Are you all right?" she asked as she cleaned the wounds, which were healing up fast.

Naruto winced as she brushed ragged nerve endings. "Yeah, just give me a few minutes and I'll be fine."

"What happened?"

"Aisha showed up."

"From the Four Corners?"

The other jounin nodded. "Yeah, and I think they're working for Akatsuki." Tenten blinked.

"Seriously?"

"Yep. That bitch out there mentioned Akatsuki and capturing me for Itachi."

"What do they want with y-. Oh, right, they want the fox."

Naruto nodded. "Those two have been after me for years, but I managed to give them the slip when I left. They didn't bug me till I showed up in Konoha again."

"But what gets me is that the other three from the Four Corners aren't here…"

A series of muted thumps met their ears. Naruto checked his wounds, saw they were healed, then was up and running, Tenten hot behind him. They burst out the main gate, not running into Aisha, who was either looking for them or had rejoined her comrades in the town.

Lahan was burning.

Three pillars of smoke rose lazily into the night sky. As the two, now joined by the lord's family and Neji and Sakura, watched, there was another explosion and a fourth pillar began to rise.

"They're attacking the town?" Sakura shouted, sounding horrified.

"We have no choice," Neji said tersely. "We have to engage them."

Naruto nodded. "Right. I'm taking their leader, Hyotoko or whatever the hell his name was."

"You sure?" Neji asked. "You're a wind type. He's fire. Not exactly in your favor."

Naruto snorted. "Since when has _anything_ ever been in my favor?" he asked. Neji shrugged, knowing that he wasn't about to be dissuaded, and that Naruto, who was probably the strongest of them all if you counted the fox, probably would have no trouble defeating the leader. The blond hopped up on the wall's roof then vaulted off into the city.

"Jeeze. Some leader," Sakura sighed. "He goes and leaves his own team behind?"

"It's Naruto," Tenten answered with a smile. "What're you going to do? I'm taking that weapons bitch by the way."

"The lighting guy is mine," Neji said. "I know I can handle him."

"So looks like I get the earth guy again." Sakura finished. "Wow, déjà vu."

"If it ain't broke don't fix it," Neji answered. "Let's go!"

They blurred away and were gone.

"Everyone," Hinata murmured softly. Oda looked at her with disdain, but she didn't notice, she was too busy watching the gate.

"Father," he said finally, "are they going to die?"

"We can only hope that they kill each other," Yoritomo replied. "Then we won't have to pay and the Four Corners will be gone from Lahan." Hinata suddenly stepped up to him and there was a sharp crack as she slapped him as hard as she could across the face. And since Hinata was a former ninja, Yoritomo was almost knocked on his back.

"You will _not_ say that about my family and friends!" She said firmly, a fire Yoritomo had never seen blazing in her eyes. For the first time, he felt uncomfortable. Hinata had always been a docile wife, no matter what he said to her. To have her stand up to him was something entirely new.

A new feeling erupted inside him.

Hatred.

He hated that damned Uzumaki Naruto and his team for what they'd done to him. They'd wrested control of his very home from him, evidenced by Hinata's sudden backbone. And he also hated Hinata for defying him. He was the Lord of Lahan dammit! He would not be disobeyed in his own home!

"You damned _whore!_" He shouted, reaching to his hip, where his daito sat. In one swift move, he pulled it clear and slashed at his wife, not caring if Konoha sent an assassin after him for killing one of their own.

The blow passed over Hinata, burst into a log with a puff of smoke. She'd never been there to begin with.

"What?"

"It's called the Bunshin no Jutsu," said a voice from behind him. Yoritomo spun and saw his wife walking towards him, but she was totally different. She was dressed in a training shirt with a deep v-neck and mesh across the V and coming out of the sleeves and pants that stopped halfway down her shins, mesh emerging from the ends there too, the whole outfit clinging to her perfect figure. Her long hair was pulled back in a high ponytail that swayed behind her as she walked. She looked beautiful, in a savage and dangerous sort of way. "To try and kill your own wife…Do you really hate me that much?"

"You dare to stand against me?" Yoritomo demanded, his teeth bare, gleaming like his sword's blade. "Know your place woman!!"

"Before I came here, I vowed that I would not simply roll over and let others walk over me like dirt," Hinata answered. "I failed miserably at that, but seeing Naruto-kun and Neji-nii-san, Sakura-san, and Tenten-san reminded me of why I made that vow in the first place." She stared him straight in the eye, something she'd never done before. "It was to prove I was not a failure and that I can bring honor to Konoha!"

"So defying your husband is bringing honor? You stupid girl! You disprove your own words!"

"No," Hinata answered, pulling something from her pocket and unfolding it. "I'm going to help my friends in the village. If I sat around and did nothing, my father, my cousin, and the Hokage would be ashamed of me." She raised the object to her head and tied it in place. When her arms fell away and she looked up, Yoritomo recoiled slightly to see the proud leaf of Konoha standing out from the center of the hirai-ate. "Now let me pass."

Yoritomo planted himself in the middle of the gate outside, Oda looking surprised at his stepmother's audacity, his head moving like he was following a tennis rally. She'd never shown as much resolve as she did now. "No!" Yoritomo thundered. "You will stay here."

"I will not," Hinata replied, jumping into the air, feeling a thrill she'd forgotten years ago flood her system as she soared easily to the top of the wall. True she'd never trained since coming to Lahan, but it was like riding a bike. You never forgot how to do it. She alighted on the top of the wall, to find a sword blade at her throat.

"You will not go."

Hinata backed up a step and faced Yoritomo, who was flanked by two of his honor guard, who, Hinata was pleased to see, didn't look too happy about fighting her. "Yes I will. Now let me go."

Yoritomo shouldered his sword. "I will not allow it. Those shinobi have been nothing but trouble. Before they arrived, the Four Corners would never have dreamed of entering Lahan. But now they have, all because of those shinobi. They will kill each other and we will be rid of both problems."

Hinata bowed her head. Yoritomo smirked, victoriously. "I see. So that means I have no choice but to make you move."

The lord's blade came up to defend as Hinata's fingers began flying together, knitting a seal sequence that she would never forget. The blurring hands stopped.

"Byakugan!"

Hinata looked up, the chakra coils on the sides of her head bulging as immense amounts of the woman's chakra was funneled into her eyes, which were veined and a little bloodshot. It was a disconcerting sight and Yoritomo took a step back before he stopped himself.

"Kill her!"

"But my lord," one of the guards protested, but before he could go any further, a silver snake bit into his arm and blood gushed from the slash. The wounded man cried out and fell to one knee, clutching the wounded limb.

The last guardsman gulped, then drew his sword and put his facemask, a grotesque, demonic, iron face plate, into place and raised his katana. "Hinata-sama," he murmured. "Please forgive me, but I cannot defy my lordship Yoritomo-sama."

"Please forgive me," Hinata whispered, "for what I am about to do."

"I'm sorry Milady!"

The guardsman charged, katana held high, but done sloppily, so the Hyuuga woman would be able to hit anywhere she liked. Hating herself every minute, because the guardsmen genuinely pitied her situation and were often warm and friendly towards her, Hinata's hand darted forward, pressing gently to a series of pressure points that when struck in the right order, would knock out even the strongest of men.

Sure enough, the moment Hinata stopped, the man passed out, collapsing in her arms, and she laid him gently out on the roof.

"It appears the dirty skills of a shinobi have not abandoned you," Yoritomo remarked bluntly as he raised his katana to striking position. "But I need not tell you that I am leaps and bounds above these other men."

"I don't doubt you are," Hinata answered, sinking into the basic Juuken stance. "But I will not lose here. I must help my friends!" The two sprinted at each other, Yoritomo's sword and Hinata's eyes flashing in the moonlight as they collided.

* * *

On the ridge overlooking the village, Itachi and Kisame watched impassively as explosions thundered in the town, adding even more pillars of smoke and haze to the chaos below. One battle in particular was standing out, which could only be Naruto and Hyotoko. There were explosions erupting with an almost alarming frequency as the two chakras collided.

"That red bastard's not doing too bad against the fox kid," Kisame remarked.

"It doesn't matter," Itachi replied. "All we need is for Hyotoko-kun to last long enough for him to wear Naruto-kun down. We need nothing more, nothing less."

* * *

Hyotoko grunted as Naruto's shin blasted into his ribs, throwing him through a building and tumbling over a table inside where a family cowered beneath it, and out the other wall. Naruto lanced through the hole, bounced off the table, and out the second hole on the other side, getting above the flame affiliate and hurling a volley of shuriken.

"Got you!" Naruto shouted. His enemy was in mid-air, utterly helpless, and wouldn't be able to do anything to prevent it. Hyotoko made a series of hand seals.

"**Katon! Housenka no Jutsu!**"

The swarm of mini fireballs sprayed like agitated moths from his mouth and melted the incoming volley to nothing but flying drops of molten metal. Naruto had to hand it to the Flame Man; he certainly lived up to his name. His affiliation for his chosen element was high as well. Those fireballs had been, instead of orange and red, the purest white with blue thrown in, denoting the intense heat of the flames.

Hyotoko rolled, dodging a punch from Naruto that shattered the ground and managed to get back to his feet. His hands flew together again. "**Hijutsu! Hi no Yoroi!**"

"Uh-oh!"

'**A Kekkei Genkai!?'**

"Ah shit."

Flames erupted around Hyotoko, clinging to his skin, which turned red like a lobster, with flames enveloping his hands, feet, and his hair became actual flame as did his coat and pants. "This is my Kekkei Genkai, the Armor of Flame. It burns even hotter than kitsune-bi and will protect me from any attack because of that heat. It's an absolute defense."

"There's no such thing," Naruto retorted, though he wondered secretly how he was going to defeat that armor. "I'll find a way through!"

"You can try," the other shinobi answered, taking a few steps forward, the ground hissing as his feet met the dusty street, "but you will fail."

"Won't know till we try!" Naruto snapped back, rushing straight at the literal Flame Man.

* * *

Enishi and Sakura's fists smashed together, the force of the impact shattering the ground as the energy passed from their fists into the street. They drew back and circled again.

"Not bad," Enishi remarked. "Who was your sensei?"

"Tsunade-sama."

Enishi's eyes widened. "Tsunade? _The_ Tsunade!? Tsunade the Slug Princess and the Godaime of Konohagakure?"

"Uh, yeah. That's the one." Sakura answered, wondering to herself how many women out there could be named Tsunade. Enishi seemed to come to realized something.

"I see. In that case, holding back against you would be futile. I will get myself killed if I do that."

"Huh?"

The other shinobi shucked his jacket, letting the garment fall to the ground. "I must use that technique." His hands flew together and the next thing Sakura knew, rocks of all shapes and sized had flown from the ground and the surrounding area to bond to his body, making him look like something out of a comic book.

"Oh great. Now what?"

"This is my Kekkei Genkai. My clan was slaughtered before I was born so it has no name, but I'm sure the results will speak for themselves." With that, he charged forward and drew back. Sakura dodged back from the heavy blow and the force from it blasted a massive crater in the street, shattering the houses around them, which were mostly empty. Enishi had allowed the innocent people living there to flee before he and Sakura started fighting. Sakura had no objections and had been more than eager to allow the citizens to flee.

She rolled to one side as Enishi's rock shod fists slammed down where she'd been standing just a few moments ago. The apprentice to the Hokage had to blink when she saw that there was a sizable depression there.

"Shit," she marveled.

"Yes. That is why we are called the Four Corners," Enishi told her.

"You mean…"

"Yes. Each member of the group has Kekkei Genkai like this one." Before Sakura could consider the implications of that statement, Enishi was charging at her with more speed than she ever thought possible, the ground quaking as his granite feet hit. Enishi lunged and a spray of rock and earth ripped down the street, raising a cloud visible even from where the Akatsuki members were standing.

Kisame whistled. "Damn Itachi. Hope those Konoha yuppies are up to this."

The traitor Uchiha nodded. "It would seem," he answered with his usual monotone, "that both we and the Konoha shinobi have underestimated the Four Corners."

"Think the Leaf brats will lose?" The shark asked.

Itachi said nothing in reply, watching impassively as a fierce electrical storm began rising on the other side of Lahan.

* * *

Neji scowled to himself as Rai cackled madly, leaping over Neji's darting fingers that were aiming to close a series of chakra points that would disable the odd lighting that had suddenly covered his body. They had seriously underestimated the Four Corners, getting overconfident about winning when it was clear that while the Four Corners weren't at Akatsuki's level, but as B or A-rank missing-nin it didn't mean that they weren't formidable and had some odd form of bloodline or jutsu.

"What're you looking at?"

Neji's eyes widened as he realized that Rai had appeared right in the blind spot for his Byakugan. Force of habit saved his life.

"**Kaiten!**"

The sphere of chakra threw the speedy shinobi away, but he flipped over onto his feet in mid flight and skidded backwards before he was gone in a pulse of electricity, nothing more than a faint blur, even to someone like Neji.

The missing-nin's cackling filled the empty street around Neji, though puffs of dirt erupted here or there, or a building's corner burst into splinters as Rai landed somewhere then pushed off again, bouncing around like a rubber ball thrown around in a cramped room.

"Keep trying jounin-san!" The hyper shinobi called, his voice seeming to echo from everywhere at once. "You'll never catch me as slow as you are!"

Rai materialized right in front of Neji, a kunai already speeding towards him. Neji _leaned_, the kunai grazing the jounin's cheek, making a small trail of blood leak down his face.

"Yeah! First blood to Rai!" The missing-nin crowed. "Am I awesome or what!?"

Neji's response was to sink into a familiar stance, one both he and Rai knew like the back of their hands. "**Hakke Rokujuuyonshou!**" Neji lanced forward, fingers moving like darts. Rai looked nervous as Neji's attack closed in, then there was a thud and a massive cloud erupted around them.

* * *

"Dodge girly! Come on!" Aisha cackled as Tenten blocked another swing from her naginata, a biting wind erupting from the curved head and slashing open Tenten's upper arm. "What happened to all that strategy you used back at the estate?"

Tenten scowled as she ignored her new wound, instead picking up a pair of spear and hurling them one after another at Aisha, trying to hide one in the other's shadow in an effort to catch her off guard.

"Useless!"

There was another burst of wind and the spears shattered like sticks. Tenten clenched her jaw. This wasn't good. She knew from experience that a wind-user's abilities were her worst nightmare. Her first match with Temari was enough to prove that. The question would be getting close enough to the other kunoichi to use her shorter-range weapons, either that or use a weapon or weapons that she could control from a distance…

The Konoha kunoichi blinked. She had just the item in her inventory. Tenten's fingers came together in a familiar seal, one that a certain blond jounin had taught her.

"**Ninpou! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**"

There was a puff of smoke and where one Tenten was, there now stood two.

Aisha raised one eyebrow. "Oh? And what is a Kage Bunshin going to do for you?"

"This," Tenten answered as she and her clone both pulled out sickles that were attached to weighted chains. The dual sickles passed by Aisha, dug into the ground, then the two Tentens were running in opposite directions, winding the long chains around Tenten's prey, binding Aisha's arms to her body, the naginata's head pinned to the ground. The clone and original continued to wind the chains closer, the idea being to keep Aisha immobilized until the sickles could be embedded in her body.

To Tenten's surprise, Aisha formed a quick single hand set of seals. A pulse of wind ripped across the area, shattering the houses, sweeping the dust from the street and shattering the chains of the sickles and blowing both Tentens away, one of them just poofing from existence.

The grit in the winds gave Tenten some nasty cuts, one particular above her left eye that kept leaking blood and blinding her. That didn't really register at first because she was dazed from a hit to the head and had a massive headache, which indicated a probable concussion. Finally she managed to wobble upright and stagger back into the barren street.

Aisha looked impressed. "You're not dead? Well that's not too bad, so I guess we can play a bit more."

Tenten blinked, trying to clear the spots from her vision. "That's what you think," she managed to slur out. Great. Definite on that concussion, but Tenten didn't have a choice but to fight through it and try to outdo this kunoichi bitch.

She gave her head another shake in a last ditch effort to clear the spots, ignored the flare in her headache and dove once again into the fray.

* * *

Well that's it and it's almost late. Sorry about that. School's slamming me right now. Hope you enjoyed the Hinata bit. I wasn't going to have her fight in this chapter, but after thinking about it, I realized that Hinata would never allow her friends to almost get killed while she sat back in an estate. Now Yoritomo is going to find out that Hinata is a bit more powerful than he thought. Also, if this was lacking, sorry, it's more to set up for the meat of the fights later on. So, until next time...


	23. No Holding Back

Disclaimer: The usual crap. Own nothing

Let's get right into it, eh?

* * *

A sliver flash in the moonlight was all the warning given to Hinata that a sword blade was going to end her life. Yoritomo grinned in elation as he watched the weapon pass cleanly through his wife's neck. Blood sprayed everywhere, then Yoritomo's vision flickered, or at least seemed to, and Hinata was gone, no sign of a corpse or anything.

"What?"

"Father behind you!"

Yoritomo's son's warning came too late and the lord felt a fast series of taps on his right shoulder blade. Instantly, his arm went numb and the sword clattered from limp fingers. He spun, arm flopping, and ground his teeth in rage as he saw Hinata standing behind him, looking almost apologetic at having disabled him.

'Disgusting shinobi _whore_!' he raged, wanting to scream the words at her but knowing that it might make Hinata mad and that would've led to his death if it set her off. Yoritomo was no fool; he knew her stance and her fighting style. It was the Hyuuga Clan's legendary Juuken, the style that was known even in the samurai world for its graceful moves and lethality.

"Now let me pass," Hinata said firmly, confidently, showing a side of her that had never been seen in Lahan before. However, Hinata's friends and family were in danger. There was no time to be timid and hesitate.

Yoritomo whipped out his wakizashi and held it reverse-style in his left hand. He ran at the former Konoha-nin with a scream, but found himself flying backwards without really knowing how he got there. He was vaguely aware that Hinata was spinning like a top, the wall around her grinding itself down like a great drill was pressing down on it.

"**Kaiten!**"

Hinata slowly came to a stop, stepping up out of the bowl that had been bored in the wall by her chakra. She'd learned the technique years ago, but had never gotten around to using it until just a year before she left Konoha. After that she'd started training judiciously with it, though it was no where near the level of Neji and her father, both of whom could make the technique several feet in diameter and throw around opponents that were nowhere near them. Knowing that she wouldn't get another chance, Hinata vaulted over the wall and poured on the speed, becoming a black blur that was quickly lost among the dark shadows of Lahan.

"F-Father?" Oda asked, eyes wide, as if he was not quite sure what'd happened. His step-mother, his meek and timid step-mother who hardly ever gave the impression that she was a former shinobi, had just gotten past his father…and with what seemed like little effort.

Yoritomo, noting that the tingling in his arm was beginning to lessen just the slightest bit, sheathed his wakizashi and looked out towards the village. _His_ village, which had become his after so much hard work and effort, sweat and blood. Lots of blood too. His rise to power within Lahan hadn't been one of the cleanest in history. No, on the contrary, he'd taken the thief's way up, using the cloak and dagger method. The old lord hadn't…

Explosions again ripped through the night, fiery diadems that billowed high into the sky, plumes of smoke rising as soon as the orange and crimson flames died away. Picking up his katana, Yoritomo glared down at his son, who looked less like the son of a noble and more like the frightened child he was.

"Stay."

Oda flinched at the word as if he himself had just been bitten by his father's keen blade or step-mother's nimble fingers and angry, intimidating eyes. Then he regained himself and nodded, once again the frigid heir to the lord's seat.

As the lord pulled away his ceremonial clothes, he revealed himself to be clad in black lacquered leather armor that gleamed in the backlight of the flames. The katana in his hand slid home, clinking into place, then Yoritomo, flexing his right hand in another effort to stave off the numbness, turned and blinked from existence, moving just as fast as a shinobi.

"Damn them," he growled to himself, "all of these damn shinobi. Especially _them_! Can't do anything right." He stopped up short and let a grin split his face. "Yes. Friends and family, right? Well then, I'll start with the weakest." He looked around and noticed a whirlwind rising high into the sky near him, bursting into flame as it sucked up the fires and set itself alight. "There. _That_ one." With a snicker, he vanished from the spot he'd been standing on.

* * *

Naruto grunted to himself as he flung himself out of the way of another blast of white fire, this one taking on the form of a Karyuu Endan. The serpentine column of flame twisted and came at him again, forcing Naruto to leap into the air, flinging a volley of shuriken to cover his evasion. Again the white dragon missed, but engulfed the shuriken and turned them into little splatters of molten metal. The dragon continued on and slammed into a house, blowing up, the faint screams of the family sheltering there reaching his ears as they were burned to a crisp in seconds.

"Damn you!" Naruto shouted down at Hyotoko. "At least keep the civilians out of this!" The only response he got was a pillar of fire bursting from underground and shooting at him, a flaming bullet that he had no time to avoid. "Fuck." It was all Naruto got out before he was lost from view in crackling white and blue flames.

Hyotoko's lip curled right before he noticed that that the only thing he'd hit was Naruto's jounin vest, the protective clothing warping as the thin metal plates inside deformed under the heat. The flaming missing-nin looked around for his prey but didn't see anything. "Hiding are we?" he asked to thin air as he took a few steps down the street, the earth hissing beneath his feet. Hyotoko passed right by a deeply shadowed spot in the ruins of a house, vacant, that'd been hit by an explosion's shockwave and ripped to pieces. He never noticed a shadow that seemed deeper than the rest.

'Damn it all!' Naruto cursed himself as he watched the flaming man pass by him. 'I was an S-class missing-nin for Kami's sake! How the hell am I having trouble with this bastard!?' Kyuubi's ear twitching was the only response he got from the demon. 'What, no suggestions?'

'**Something you have to figure out for yourself brat,' **the nine-tailed fox replied.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched. 'Bastard.'

'**Runt.'**

The blond ordinarily would've responded to that with a tirade, but he decided to ignore the demon and focus on why he was having so much trouble with this guy.

'It's not like I don't have the chakra to handle him. And it's not like the bastard has the chakra to match mine. The only thing keeping him alive right now is that damned kekkei genkai of his. So that means…_I'm _problem?'

The fox's ear twitched again. Naruto took that as a sign he was on the right track. He tried to remember what set him apart from the time he'd been declared an S-rank missing-nin. And he came up with a big-ass blank.

'Dammit. I hate this thinking stuff. I'm better at improvising.' He pulled a pair of kunai from his pouches, spun them on his fingers, then snapped the knives into a reverse grip. 'Guess I'll just wing it.' Channeling his chakra into the blades and changing the element to wind, extending the edge by about a half-inch, he sped from his hiding place. Hyotoko turned at the last second, just in time to see and avoid the onrushing Jinchuuriki.

The blond sped past, missing, threw one kunai behind him to cover himself again then stopped, shot chakra into his feet and flew back towards the flame man, giving no quarter, slashing wildly with his remaining knife, lashing out with kicks whenever he needed to, pushing Hyotoko back. He missed on a lunge, over extended, planted the hand holding the kunai, then kicked his feet up, right heel soaring for Hyotoko's face, the left angling for the mid-section.

Both attacks were stopped, the blond jounin resisting the urge to scream in pain as his skin was scorched by the sizzling hands of his opponent, but he pushed away regardless, rolling to his feet then whipping his other knife. The weapon dissolved into molten metal when it met a curtain of flame that the other shinobi made with a wave of his hand.

"Not bad, but if weapons and taijutsu are all you have, you'll never beat me!" Hyotoko taunted, his voice condescending, arrogant, his eyes flinty, ice cold despite the heat the rolled over him. In Naruto's mind, he looked like Sasuke. The Sasuke he'd met in Orochimaru's lair, just before he'd revealed himself to kill the Snake Sannin. This guy was a gnat compared to the frightening power of the snake and Naruto had pushed himself to his considerable limit to overcome him. "Never, not in a million years."

Naruto stood, suddenly realizing something.

"I know…" he muttered. Hyotoko read his lips.

"Then why persist?"

"No you stupid bastard. I finally get why I'm having so much damn trouble with you." Naruto's voice was low and dangerous. "It's because I'm holding back."

"What!? You're giving your all! I know you are!"

The blond mass of spikes shook. "No. It's because I don't regard you as a threat. I don't think you can kill me. It's a stupid thing to think when a large part of battle comes down to the chance factor. Even a genin could topple a Kage if he got lucky." Naruto reached up and pulled off his hirai-ate. "No more. I'm not going to fight as a Konoha shinobi. This is a battle of survival, just as every battle is. I can't believe it took me this long to realize." He looked up and his eyes were devoid of mercy, compassion, light, all the things that made Naruto Naruto. He'd regained the intent to kill he'd had as a missing-nin. "Time to die."

Kyuubi's howling laughter cut the air inside his head. **'At last you realize! Just because one man is weaker that the other doesn't mean that he cannot win! You have to go all out, all the time. Remember this feeling Naruto, you'll need to feel it all the time from now on.'**

Crimson youki burst into being, flaring around the Jinchuuriki like a storm. Naruto's eyes became crimson, his whisker marks thickened, the wounds he'd gotten healed, and his fingernails became claws. A long tail began waving in the air behind him, then two other tails formed, splitting from the tip and pulling themselves away. Killing intent, thick and palpable, the combined intents of Kyuubi and his host, slammed down on Hyotoko, who began to feel strange.

"Just try it!" He shouted with a confidence he did no feel. Naruto looked him straight in the eye and said one word.

"_Isukumi!"_

_

* * *

_

Far from the battles, Itachi and Kisame both started as they felt a sudden spike in the amount of killing intent that was leaking from the battlefield. With eight shinobi going at it, it was certainly in abundance, but this new surge was something that was in a class of its own and it could only belong to one person.

"Naruto-kun has regained his instincts it would seem," Itachi remarked to his partner.

"How do you know it's him?" Kisame asked. He had a hunch it was the Kyuubi kid but still the intent was awesome. It was the last thing he'd expected from the annoying gaki he'd run into a few times. The youki followed a moment later. "Oh. Never mind." He grinned toothily down at the shorter man. "We gonna make our move now?"

"We are," Itachi answered and plunged off the cliff without further answer. Kisame chuckled to himself, doing his best to suppress an impressed whistle. He'd heard the rumors of the Sound missing-nin's killing intent, but until he'd heard from Tobi that Naruto and the missing-nin were one and the same, he didn't believe it. The Sound nin had been rumored to be a tank of the battlefield, slaughtering enemies left and right with little hesitation and all of that backed by a massive amount of killing intent.

* * *

Neji cursed as Rai vanished right before his fingers would've made contact. The little bastard was almost impossible to pin down, bouncing all over the place with a crackle of electricity and a rumble of thunder. If Neji could land just one blow on his leg, then it would be over. Rai would be hobbled and wouldn't be anywhere as nimble as he'd been up to that point.

'The million-ryou question is how do I do that without getting fried?'

He threw himself sideways without looking, his Byakugan telling him that Rai was incoming. The speedy shinobi quit moving and faced the shinobi from Konoha.

"Well isn't this an interesting little stalemate?" he asked, popping his knuckles. "I can't hit you and you can't hit me. Odd little draw we've got going isn't it?" Neji's pearly eyes narrowed but he otherwise didn't answer. Rai looked puzzled at the cold snub then shrugged it off. "Whatever, if you want to be a cold bastard, that's your business." He flashed away again and Neji was surrounded by sparks crackling over the ground. Then the battle renewed as Neji was forced to keep moving or get fried.

* * *

In a hut on the outskirts of the village, Ren stood up and went to his door, opening it a hair but throwing it wide when he beheld the destruction that had befallen the village he'd chosen to serve. Fires raged in three different places and repeated plumes of dust and smoke were erupting here and there in a fourth location, occasionally turning into a long trail as some pair of combatants with immense physical strength matched fists.

His eyes narrowed when the ronin noticed a presence he knew very well. "Yoritomo," he growled to the air. The mere thought of the treachery committed by that scum set his teeth on edge. Ren turned fingered the kodachi on his hip and bit his lip as he wondered what to do now, for some reason uncertain. If he went now, he would be betraying the lord of the village, and though the lord wasn't his own, it still was central to the code of Bushido. If Ren went now, he would be in volition of every principal he was raised after. On the other hand, while Lahan had never been lavish, since Yoritomo had taken power, it'd gone down hill fast, crime shooting through the roof and bandits like the Four Corners moving into to claim whatever they'd chosen.

A face swam into being before him. Uzumaki Naruto, a shinobi, a member of a sect that Ren had always hated and despised. He'd been surprised when Naruto had seemed to be a decent man who followed his convictions and ideals, though that was only the impression that the ronin got from him.

"But the people…"

The words of Ren's father came back to him. His father had been a strict but loving father, eager to impart his knowledge to his only son. The one thing he'd reiterated over and over again was that no matter your sect, philosophy, or social standing, if you were in a position of power and you didn't put the people first, you were nothing but trash.

Ren decided.

The wooden door of his hut flapped hollowly against its frame, a forlorn clacking noise that seemed to echo after the ronin as he headed into the village. Yes, he would fly in the face of everything he held dear.

"Hang on Uzumaki Naruto-kun. Reinforcements are on the way."

The only sign that Ren had vanished was a little puff of dirt that was quickly blown away by the wind.

* * *

Sakura rolled frantically and Enishi's rock shod fist slammed to earth right where she'd been the moment before, making the ground leap and slam into her. The pink-haired kunoichi was bruised and battered, the ribs on her right side paining her like nothing else. She'd taken a glancing blow from the rock-wearing missing-nin and she was sure that at least she had fractures if not breaks, but until she was able to stop and do a diagnostic jutsu, she couldn't be sure. Still, she was noticeably better off than Enishi himself, who had several rather large depressions pressed into his armor and there was a real big one on his back where Sakura had managed to land a nice axe kick. How she'd done it was a mystery even to her, but that didn't matter. She'd done it, she'd hurt him, and that was enough.

"Stop this," she gasped out, not for the first time, as she stood. Of all the Four Corners, Enishi had seemed to be the most mellow and open to talk and she'd been needling at him ever since he'd put that rock armor on. "Come on, do we really need to do this?"

"Tools like us do not need a reason to fight," he replied as he pulled his fist free, a large chuck of earth, turned to rock by the pressure of the hit, stuck to his fist. He waved his arm to try and get rid of it then decided it would be a good club to smash her with and faced the kunoichi, his feet thumping hollowly on the ground beneath him.

Sakura was reminded strongly of Haku, the gentle boy that had worked with Momochi Zabuza way back on Team Seven's first mission. He too had believed that shinobi were nothing but tools and that because of that they were not allowed to have any emotion. It was a similar situation here, she decided, only instead of emotion, it was a reason to fight.

"Enishi-san…"

"Enough!" He snapped out. "I can see what you are trying to do. You're trying to talk me out of this fight. It won't work. Others have tried that tactic and I've crushed them all under my heel. Do you know why I'm a missing-nin?"

Sakura shook her head. How was she supposed to know that? She told the other shinobi as much.

"I am a killer," he stated coldly, without emotion, without remorse. "I have killed to date five hundred shinobi and civilians. Some was on contract, others were just upon my whim."

"What!?" Somehow being a merciless killer didn't fit his image.

The other man smirked. "I can see that you don't see how that's possible. How can someone like me be a cold-blooded killer? He doesn't look like one!" He raised an eyebrow, or rather the rock on him shifted to look like that. "Am I right?"

Sakura could only nod.

Enishi laughed mirthlessly. "That's the idea, kunoichi! I project this calm veneer, this mellow shell, all so that people will be unaware of my true intentions! That's part of the shinobi way, yes? Deceive your enemies, lull them into a false sense of security, then crush them without remorse!" He leveled his rock club at her. "Do you see now? I'm going to crush you, splatter you all over the street, and grind whatever remains into dust! And you know something? I'm going to enjoy myself!" He charged, the ground shaking as his feet rumbled over it, the club coming up, ready to smash her into pieces.

Sakura flung herself backwards onto her hands then pushed off, knifing into the air and spinning with more grace than a gymnast. Shuriken and kunai spun from her fingers as she used her own insane strength and momentum to fling them as hard as she could. The weapons glinted under the silvery light of the moon, streaks of white in the darkness that struck Enishi all over his body as he continued his rush. Rocks all over his body exploded like he'd been hit with a multitude of bombs and blood sprayed from the resulting gaps. Sakura had flung the weapons so hard that she'd pierced the rock and hit the man beneath them. She didn't waste any time, running right at Enishi as he recovered and drove her fist into the side of his head.

The rock exploded and he was sent flying, shaking the ground when he hit and skidded the length of the street. When he reemerged, Sakura saw that she had blown the right side of his rock face clean off, exposing his flesh and that something sharp had cut him in the ruins, since blood was streaming from a gash in his forehead and pooling on some of the remaining stone before leaking down the rest of the way.

Enishi spit out a bit more blood and what looked like a tooth. "It's gonna take more than that to beat me!" he shouted and again the earth began to shake and rumble as he ran at her again. This time Sakura copied him and charged in kind, both of them drawing back for what would probably be some pretty hard hits.

* * *

Tenten ducked and the head of the naginata cut the air inches above her head, a hard biting wind slamming into her the moment the spearhead had passed. She staggered, but still had the presence of mind to whip a kunai at Aisha and force the woman to twist out of the way or get hit. She did so and the knife sailed past until Tenten made a few hand seals and the note that was wrapped around the handle exploded.

"Bitch!" Aisha shouted as she formed a wall of wind that swept away the fire, preventing a burn, but she was still knocked to her knees by the shockwave that accompanied the flames. She spun her naginata above her head and the wind flared up, turning into a tornado that swept away the smoke. There was no sign of Tenten. "What the…" She blinked, looked up, and saw Tenten with two open scrolls flapping in her wake. "Oh no!"

"**Soshoryuu**!"

Weapons poured from both scrolls as Tenten pirouetted in the sky and flung weapons of every conceivable type and size at her, ranging from the biggest manriki kusari Aisha had ever seen to kunai and senbon. Weapon after weapon slammed to earth and Aisha was forced to whip her naginata as fast as she could, deflecting what she could and trying to dodge the rest. She didn't have enough time to summon chakra for a blast of wind. The missing-nin winced as smaller weapons that were hidden in the shadows of the larger ones bit her. When the rain ended and the dust it had kicked up cleared, she was cut and bloody.

"Not done yet!" Tenten shouted and yanked hard on the invisible wires that had been affixed to the ends of the larger weapons. The weapons flew into the air and with only a flick of her fingers, Tenten sent the weapons streaking towards her target. This time though, Aisha was ready. She _moved_, blurring up the street to stop at a dead end right as the last weapon, a yari, stuck in the earth, quivering. The roofs of the houses to either side and the one her back was against as well, exploded and Aisha looked up and saw three more Tentens hanging in the sky as the original took a running start then vaulted into the sky was well.

"A new technique!" Tenten shouted, each one unfurling a long scroll that she pulled from her weapons pouch. Aisha's eyes widened as she realized what was going to happen. She readied her naginata but a chain shot from nowhere and tangled her arm.

"What!?"

The source was a weighted chain and there was fourth Tenten standing beside her. Aisha realized that Tenten must have made it right before she'd jumped. The three clones had been a distraction to get her attention off the ground. The four airborne kunoichi bit their fingers and swiped them across the back of the scrolls.

"Here's my version of Senbon Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

The scrolls exploded and the air was filled with the whipping of senbon as Tenten's attack was unleashed. Aisha screamed in rage and surprise as she was lost from view under the pelting rain. When it was all over, there was only a pile of senbon in the shape of a human that was allowed to fall forward and hit the ground. Tenten landed and dispersed her clones, then doubled over, breathing hard. She was slashed, gashed, and bruised with one hell of headache, but she was relieved to see that all her training had paid off big time. After seeing Naruto's match against the Kusajishi sisters in the Chuunin Exams and the senbon attack that the one kunoichi had had, Tenten had begun to try and learn the technique herself. However, it must have been an original technique because Tenten could find no mention of it in the scrolls in the Shinobi Library or in any of the shops around Konoha that sold technique scrolls. So she'd improvised and this was the result.

"But it's not that jutsu so it's going to need a different name…"

A voice from behind her made her turn.

"If I may, I would suggest Senbonzakura." It was Yoritomo, who was standing behind the kunoichi with black armor and a drawn sword in one hand, the other one tucked behind him. "Since it looked so much like Sakura tree blossoms in this fire." He nodded to the carnage around the two of them.

"What are you doing here?" Tenten asked, none too politely. She really didn't like this guy. Hinata had tried to describe him in a good light but in the Konoha-nin's mind, there was nothing really redeeming about him. He was a scumbag and she didn't like the fact that a friend of hers was married to him.

The leader shrugged. "A lord is not allowed to survey the damages to his village?" he asked, but Tenten didn't miss his right hand tighten on his sword's hilt.

"With no bodyguards? What if they enemy comes after you?"

"And why would they hurt me?"

"You're the leader of the village! The real question is why _wouldn't_ they hurt you?"

"I'll tell you why," the lord answered with a grin, "it's because they wouldn't hurt their benefactor."

Tenten felt like she'd touched an electric wire. "What did you say!?"

Yoritomo scoffed as he walked to a house that had gotten shredded by the battle between Aisha and Tenten, casting a disinterested eye over the rubble, which was nothing but a mix of twisted wood beams and rocks. "How do you think I acquired power in this village my dear? Certainly not by legal means, I assure you. I hired these four buffoons to ambush the lord of the village and kill him. In return I would allow them to raid the traders coming through the village."

He looked back at Tenten, eyes glinting. "A rather brilliant ruse if I do say so myself. I get into power and at the same time, these idiots would have to protect me if they wanted to continue their rather cushy existence."

Tenten felt sick, felt like her feet were going to give out from underneath her. The plan sickened her. "You bastard! How did Konoha not find out about this! Lahan is a strategic trading town between two countries!"

Now the bastard began laughing outright. "You are so stupid!" He shouted. "How could Konoha know!? We're an insignificant town! Strategic yes, but there are countless passes through the mountains and more than one has a town at its base. As long as Iwa does not threaten us, Konoha couldn't care less! And Iwa can't do anything because we sit in Konoha territory and the rivalry between your two villages keeps them even further at bay!"

Yoritomo's face darkened. "Then that wench arrived here and I could see that she would be the death of my plan. If she got word that I had committed this treachery, I would have the ANBU after me as well as the Twelve Guards of Fire from the capital, either one of which is hard to defend against and two is nigh impossible. The Daimyo does not take this kind of thing lightly you know."

"But Hinata-chan got off a message to Konoha," Tenten pointed out.

"Yes and I didn't know she'd done it until you four turned up on my doorstep." He glared at her, pointing his katana. "Perhaps you can enlighten me? Tell me, shinobi, how did that bitch get the message to Konoha?"

Tenten knew that she couldn't give him a straight answer. "Hinata-chan's a Konoha shinobi," the weapons mistress answered. "Stealth and secret communication are our specialties."

The katana lowered. "Indeed. Well, our talking no longer serves a point. You see, the wench has recently grown a spine and now runs to confront the Four…Three Corners. In retaliation for defying me, and to keep my secret safe, I'm going to butcher all four of you and send word to Konoha that you tragically died in combat." He blurred and Tenten was caught off guard before a sword blade appeared and speared through her abdomen.

Blood sprayed all over the road and Yoritomo began laughing madly.

* * *

Neji rolled on his shoulder and followed through back onto his feet. Rai skidded to a stop. Both shinobi were breathing heavily and Neji had a cut at the base of his neck where Rai had gotten a lucky hit on his blind spot. Rai's left arm hung limply, the muscles in the shoulder jammed and locked from where Neji had hit him in retaliation.

"Not bad not bad!" Rai cackled. "I'm really enjoying myself here! Last time someone lasted this long was before I left Kumo!"

"Kumo?" Neji repeated. "Was that your village?"

"You bet! Didn't like it there, 'specially with the whole obsession about Konoha's kekkei genkai. Everywhere I went it was 'Sharingan this' 'Byakugan that' and it was so damn _frustrating_!" He laughed again. "So I killed my squad and went rouge. Haven't regretted my decision for a moment!" He was bouncing from foot to foot, like a hyperactive kid. "Well enough talk! Now…" His hands folded together in a seal sequence. He thrust his left hand forward. "How about this? **Raiton! Rairyuuhou!**"

A massive blast of lightning shot from his palm and zipped down the street, turning from a river of electricity and plasma to a blast with a dragon's head that would fry Neji to a crisp if it hit him. The prodigy began to spin.

"**Kaiten!**"

The dragon slammed into the barrier and clamped down hard, bolts of lightning flying everywhere as Neji grunted and increased his rotation and chakra output, increasing the size and diameter of his sphere of charka. The two techniques warred for a moment then the dragon's own chakra was thrown back at it and it dissolved into a mad lightshow of bolts, the writhing power setting some of the surrounding huts alight, adding to those that were already burning.

Neji dissolved the Kaiten, but didn't stop spinning, his hands reaching into his pouches and plucking out the last few shuriken he had. Using his momentum, he threw them as hard as he could, the stars whipping towards Rai.

"Oh come on!"

He vanished and reappeared behind Neji, who timed his spinning to end when he was facing the other shinobi. He lunged with a Juuken strike and Rai backpedaled, looking worried. He stopped far outside Neji's reach, and outside the range of his Hakkeshou.

'Damn. At this rate I'll never hit him!' Neji wanted to scream, then he calmed down and thought it out. 'I need to change Juuken. It's not working. What I need is to be able to tell when he's within my reach then strike as he attacks.' Pearly eyes narrowed. 'I've got it!'

Neji broke his stance, standing up, his arms dangling easily at his side, closing his eyes. He reached out with Hakkeshou, but the range stopped long before it reached Rai, just as he knew it would.

"You can't hit me with that shit!" Rai shouted at him, unable to see the technique, but able to sense it as a faint tingling against his skin. The feeling vanished. "Huh? Did you get rid of the Juuken? Why?"

Neji didn't respond. Instead he was taking calming breaths, in and out as slowly as he could, calming his heartbeat and breathing, trying to extend his Juuken just enough that it ended at his maximum arm reach. Most of the techniques for his style worked by knowing when the enemy was with a range that would allow them to close the distance in an instant, the higher the level the farther the range, and the more speed required. It was said that the true masters of Juuken were able to take down enemy's way outside their arm's reach. Neji was trying to do the exact opposite. He was going to react right as the enemy reached him, right as they committed to the attack.

"Helloooo!" Rai called. "What the hell are you doing!?" He was ignored. The hyper shinobi spat slightly. "Tch. Jeeze, acting all high and mighty. Does he think that if he closes his eyes and ignores me I'll go away? Well, guess I'll just kill him then."

Neji's skin felt charged as his Juuken began to extend, then stopped right where he wanted it. His eyes snapped open, but he controlled the urge to analyze everything. Instead he took in nothing. He would react when the enemy attacked, no sooner no later. He had to be loose, limber, otherwise he would react after the instant that he was under attack and Hyuuga Neji could kiss the world of the living good-bye.

"Ready?" Rai called with a grin. "Get ready, here I come!"

'One hit,' Neji told himself as he relaxed his shoulders. 'One hit to end it.'

Rai vanished.

Neji struck an instant later, the impact of the two shinobi echoing into the sky.

* * *

Hyotoko screamed as fast as he could take a breath, scrabbling away from Naruto, who was stalking towards him, three tails flicking with each step. In Hyotoko's mind, however, Naruto was a snarling beast, a monster that was not be attacked, with eyes that glowed like coals from the depths of Hell.

The eyes!

Hyotoko couldn't look away from them. He couldn't no matter how much he wanted to. They were enrapturing and terrifying, beautiful and horrible all at the same time. They scorched him and the fire shinobi knew that they would pursue him wherever he went. He would never avoid them! He was a rabbit before a hawk, nothing but a pig to the slaughter. How stupid was he to fight this monster, this demon!?

Hyotoko's heart was pounding in his chest. He couldn't breath and the killing intent the creature was radiating was slamming down on him in waves. He wanted to rise, but knew that the moment he did, he would lose his head.

"What the hell are you!?" He shouted at the top of his voice, eyes wide with terror. _"What are you!?"_

"You're worst nightmare," the creature responded, another murderous wave slamming into Hyotoko, stealing what little breath he had and making his limbs turn to jelly and his bowels want to empty.

Finally he couldn't take it anymore, the terror or the killing intent. "Kill me…" he whispered, not daring to scream lest the creature spare him and consign him to this eternal torment, but the words ripped themselves out of him anyway. "KILL ME!"

The demon stood over him now, one claw raised to the heavens that Hyotoko couldn't see. He was too transfixed by the alluring and terrifying eyes. Those eyes! Those awful _eyes!_

The claw slammed down on him and blood showered everywhere.

Naruto's demon chakra and features faded as he straightened up, staring down at Hyotoko's corpse, which was pushed into the ground, blood splattered underneath him from where his back had burst open from the force, a massive claw-shaped mark burned and pressed into his chest, a testament to just how hard Naruto had hit him.

"So long bastard," Naruto said to the body as stared at it. "Burn in Hell." If someone who knew him from before he'd become the Sound missing-nin saw this they would be horrified at his actions, but they hadn't seen him as the missing-nin. For him, back then, when all he had to rely on was himself and his demon tenant, this was how he'd done things. A near-death experience with trying to be lenient with a cornered Sound-nin had taught him that. Naruto had let the man live and turned his back on him, only to get a knife in the back, literally, and a fist through the stomach right after.

The lesson there had been hard and nearly killed him if not for the Kyuubi usurping his control, one of the only times the fox had done so, and killing the Sound-nin who'd done it. Naruto had had his eyes opened then. One could not show mercy in a world of death and expect to live long. He'd had to relearn that lesson just now.

A feather light touch against his senses made him glare over his shoulder. At the end of the road was his third and fourth least favorite people in the world, right after Orochimaru and Sasuke.

Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame were behind him, cloaks flapping in the wind that blew through the village.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Itachi murmured, Sharingan fixed on the blond Jinchuuriki's face, eyes that Naruto was studiously avoiding. He didn't need to be sucked into Tsukuyomi or set on fire by Amaterasu or something. "How long has it been?"

Naruto tried to move his hand as easily as he could toward his shuriken holster and the few shuriken remaining there. He was tried not to move his cloak in a way that would've indicated he was reaching for a weapon.

"Not so fast, Naruto-kun," Itachi said easily, "I'm not here to fight, merely to talk."

"Keh, speak for yourself, Itachi," Kisame snorted, one hand closing around Samehada's hilt, lifting the massive bandage-wrapped sword from its place on his back. "It's been too long since we had a good rumble and I'm itching for a fight." The shark-man grinned toothily, slamming the weapon to the ground in front of him. "I'm ready to slice off his legs so he can't run from us again and then we drag him to the Leader."

Naruto's hands made a cross-shaped hand seal. "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" Smoke exploded from his body, obscuring the entire area and when it cleared, there were close to twenty Narutos all crowded into the narrow street. At some unseen signal they all poured into the sky, cloaks billowing. From each clone spun a volley of shuriken, filling the air with spinning steel. At the same time the clones were landing. In perfect unison, they made another handseal. "**Henge!**" The smoke cleared and there was again only one Naruto, but the original blond wasted no time in collecting all the shuriken he'd just made.

Kisame's grin never faded as whirled his massive sword, the shuriken clinking harmlessly off its blade. "Nice try brat!" Naruto scowled then jumped as high as he could, going more than double the height of the houses. His arms flashed and released volley after volley. The stars blasted towards the target. Kisame flung his sword into the sky then his fingers began to flash.

"**Suiton! Kaihodan!**"

An intense stream of water spewed from Kisame's mouth, the speeding jet blasting through the stars, popping them like a child popping bubbles. The jet of water panned from side to side dispersing the rest of the shuriken. When it was all said and done, a thick white smoke hung over the battlefield, obscuring everything.

Kisame looked around, no longer grinning. "Where the hell did that little bastard go?"

Itachi didn't respond. His Sharingan had detected the slightest shift in the haze that had given away Naruto's location. The top of a billowing formation parted and Naruto shot out of it, a glowing blue ball clenched firmly in his right hand.

"Oh hell!" Kisame shouted as he brought up Samehada to try and block the strike.

"**Rasengan!**"

The hand-held hurricane met the unforgiving blade and the two were obscured by a tornado that sprang up as the Rasengan tried to do its work and burrow through the blade of Samehada. For a second, Itachi really thought that Naruto would bore straight through the special sword, but a second later and the wrappings were shredded and flung away. The scaly blade exposed, the Samehada lost no time in doing what it did best and eating Naruto's chakra, the surface moving and shifting as if it was alive. The blond jounin did something completely contrary to rational thought and grabbed onto the blade. His hand was ripped open and blood sprayed from the lacerations but the jounin spun on his palm anyway, slamming his shin into Kisame's head, lifting the Akatsuki off his feet and flinging him into a pile of toothpicks that had once been a hut.

Naruto straightened up, flexing his wounded hand, flicking the excess blood from it. When Itachi managed to glimpse the wound again, he noted that there was _no_ wound there.

"Your healing abilities never fail to impress, Naruto-kun," he said simply.

"Can it," Naruto snapped, pulling his weapons scroll out and bringing out Kazekiri, his last resort weapon. He only used the blade when he had no other weapons left. Like now.

Itachi raised one hand, palm out. "As I said, Naruto-kun, I'm not here to capture you. Merely to talk."

"About what?" The jounin answered, but he didn't lower the katana. To let his guard down around people like Itachi and Kisame was asking to get his ass captured and the Kyuubi extracted.

Itachi looked him in the eye before Naruto could turn away but for some reason, the blond didn't feel any of the side effects of the powerful dojutsu. It must've showed on his face because the elder Uchiha snorted softly and turned away. "Come. We must talk in private. Away from Kisame and your team."

Despite himself (and the Kyuubi howling warnings in his ear), Naruto sheathed and sealed Kazekiri then trotted after the missing-nin.

* * *

Sakura cried out as Enishi landed a solid right hook to her side. The kunoichi swore that she felt her ribs and arm break at the same time. Enishi smiled viciously as he watched the Konoha-nin tumble away head over heels like a rag doll.

The pink-haired kunoichi stopped in a cloud of dirt and staggered upright, her arm dangling limply, her left hand, glowing a faint green, pressed to her right side. Enishi began to charge, bits and pieces of his armor crumbling away from the place where Sakura had bashed him. He was beginning to have more and more gaps in his granite exterior, partly because of Sakura's fists and partly because of the damage those fists wrought. It wasn't enough though, and he still barely felt any of Sakura's blows.

Or so he thought.

Sakura's left fist quit glowing then curled into a fist and she lunged, leather-shrouded knuckles filling Enishi's vision. His feet dug into the ground, ripping it up like a plow, and he grunted as the attack barely grazed the bottom of his jaw. Even with that light blow, the rock there crunched and cracked, some of it falling away. Sakura followed through, her momentum carrying her into a handstand on her good arm, both feet crashing into the rocky missing-nin's face, shattering all the stone on his head and a good portion on his neck.

Enishi screamed, staggering backward as he clutched as his forehead, blood pouring from between his fingers and streaming down his face, make him look like Sakura had smashed an egg over his face or something.

"That's it, bitch," he snarled, looking over his stained fingers. "I'm not holding back anymore!" His thick fingers rolled together and his armor burst off him, the individual stones clattering as they collided.

"What the hell?" Sakura muttered to herself, "what's ditching his armor going to do?"

Enishi made another hand sign and it all became clear to the kunoichi as more rocks flew from all around them, swirled around the missing-nin, then slammed into place against him. When it was done, Sakura was horrified to see that his armor had been renewed and now had no signs of the damage she'd done earlier to him.

"Impossible!"

"Not done yet," Enishi muttered, making more seals. He slammed his palm into the ground. "**Doton! Yomi Numa!**" The ground exploded, a thick and smelly purple liquid gushing out, washing out the foundations of the few standing huts, making them lean in, wooden islands that were Sakura's only salvation. If she fell into the Swamp of the Underworld, it was all over for her.

'And,' she thought with a smirk, 'him too. 'With his weight, he'll sink like…well, like a rock!' She was proven right when Enishi shot onto the top of a hut moments after using his technique. Somehow, the top of the hut didn't give in. Sakura supposed that he was using some trick with his chakra to distribute his weight, like a snowshoe distributed weight over snow. 'Hope he can't walk on the swamp that way.'

"Are you ready!?" Enishi shouted to her, cracking his knuckles. They sounded like cannon shots as the stones popped.

Sakura pulled out some bandages and broke off a piece of the roof she was standing on, then tied it to her forearm and using the bandages, repeating the process for her upper arm. Splints in place, she waved the injured limb experimentally, found it didn't hurt _too_ bad, and glared at the missing-nin. "Bring it on!"

The two leapt into the sky at the same time, throwing punches at the same time.

* * *

I'm back, in case the email announcing the chapter to you in your inbox wasn't enough. School was getting tough and I had to drop writing in order to concentrate more on my studies. Sorry for the wait. However, it's break, so I have naught but free time! Fun right? Anyway, hope you enjoyed the comeback chapter. Keep an eye out for the next one!

**Glossary**

**Raiton Rairyuuhou (Lightning style, Lightning Dragon Cannon):** I don't know how accurate that is, since I don't speak Japanese (though I'd love to learn). The user unleashes a river of Lightning chakra that sprouts a dragon head on the end. I'd put it at A-rank, mid-long range. Original jutsu (as far as I know).

**Doton: Yomi Numa (Earth Style, Swamp of the Underworld): **A jutsu that turns the area into a swap from which nothing can escape. Jiraiya used it against Orochimaru.

**Senbonzakura (Thousand Cherry Blossoms): **Tenten's version of Sasame's senbon jutsu, but instead of directly making the needles, she makes clones who use her storage scrolls. I stole the name directly from Bleach. It's Byakuya's Zanpakuto and therefore, not mine.

**Suiton Kaihodon (Water Style Pressure Cannon): **The user spits a high-pressure stream of water from his or her mouth. In Kisame's hands, I think it would be pretty bad to get caught on the other end.

**Soshoryuu (Twin Rising Dragons): **Tenten uses two of her weapons scrolls to summon every plausible weapon you can imagine (and more than a few implausible ones) and makes them rain down on her opponent. Should she miss, wires can be used to attack again.


	24. Daybreak

Disclaimer: Yet again, I own nothing.

* * *

"Impressive," Yoritomo said with a grin as he and Tenten bounced back from each other, the kunoichi's left hand bleeding profusely from where she'd used it to deflect his sword. It was all done with a reason, because the woman had procured a kunai and used it to slash him across the chest. Thankfully the blow had skidded off his armor, being as hastily aimed as it was, and he wasn't hurt. "However, quite useless my dear."

"What do you get out of attacking me?" Tenten demanded.

The other fighter smiled. "Nothing much. I'm just out to break the will of that damn woman."

"Hinata-chan?"

Yoritomo nodded, making the kunoichi snarl. "Bastard." The lord shrugged, sinking into a low stance, holding the edge of his blade up by his ear, his left hand resting gently along the blade. Tenten blinked as she instantly saw what kind of attack would be heading her way. It would be a straight on stab, probably at high speed.

Yoritomo lunged, moving faster than Tenten had expected. She still had enough time to dodge, but she was exhausted from the fight with Aisha, having used up most of her chakra with the Kage Bunshin and Senbonzakura techniques. Her mind could process what was happening to her, but her body just didn't have the will to respond.

"**Gatotsu!**"

'Damn! No time!'

Something big and heavy knocked her away, followed closely by the ring of clashing metal. Yoritomo stumbled backwards, barely managing to keep a grip on his katana as he ran into what was essentially a brick wall. Both combatants blinked when they saw who it was.

"Who're…"

Yoritomo interrupted Tenten. "YOU!"

Tenten's savior was a tall, imposing man with long gray hair, held in check by a ponytail. A horizontal scar bisected his face, crossing just below the most intense gray eyes the kunoichi had ever seen. He was clad in simple burlap but held himself in a way that seemed more noble to Tenten than even the Hokage herself. The naked blade of a kodachi was in his hand, the keen waves of the temper line glowing white in the bright fires of the surrounding huts.

The intense eyes swept over Tenten, who shuddered as killing intent, cold and unadulterated, slammed down on her. "Are you alright shinobi?" The man demanded no too politely. It was all the kunoichi could do to not snap back at him. Eyes flashing, she nodded mutely. "Good. Can't say Naruto would be too impressed with me if I let a comrade of his die."

Understanding suddenly clicked in the woman's mind. "That means you're this 'Ren' character Naruto was going on about?" Before Ren could answer, a blur appeared behind him, a silver streak darting through the air. "Look out!" Ren was moving before the words had even left her mouth. The man spun on his heel, wheeling away from the rushing blade, his own clashing with it, keeping it from coming around to bisect him.

A deft flick of the foot and Fukayama Yoritomo was flying rather ungracefully past Tenten to the ground. He recovered fast, rolling to his feet the moment his body landed. Yoritomo stood, whirled, and locked blades with Ren again. For a second, the only sound was the grating of metal blades. Killing intent soaked the air like a wet sponge. Ren's eyes were cold and hard, like chips of slate. Yoritomo's were blazing with dark fire, his teeth bared and gritted.

"You're still alive?" Yoritomo asked harshly, muscles straining to dislodge the larger man. Yoritomo was built more for speed while Ren's burly arm muscles showed that he was built for a balance of speed and power. "You're supposed to be dead!"

Ren chuckled, though his eyes didn't mimic the mirth. They remained icy cold. "As if I could just roll over and die with people like you in power here," he retorted, suddenly bouncing back with a speed that belied his rather hefty size. Yoritomo stumbled, giving the other samurai the opening he needed to flick his kodachi in and open a small wound on the lord's shoulder, the blade finding a notch in the other man's armor. The injured man hissed as a dark splotch spread over his clothes. "And you're still a lousy swordsman."

"Wait. Ren-san," Tenten asked as she bound her hand with some bandages she had in her pouch, "you know him?"

"Yeah. Unfortunately."

"So who are you?"

Ren smirked and drew himself upright. Tenten blinked as she suddenly thought that he was clothed in the noble finery that Yoritomo wore. "Me?" he asked. "I'm the lord of Lahan!"

* * *

Rai stumbled, blood spilling from his lips as Neji picked himself up off the ground, one shoulder bleeding profusely, his long hair hanging free. The lightning-nin tried to raise a hand to make seals, but his hand refused to move. He hacked again, red flecking the ground between the two shinobi. "What…did…you…_do!?_" The blond demanded, blood bursting from his mouth as he spoke, making him wheeze.

Neji winced as his shoulder gave a particularly nasty throb. He tried to ignore the way his vision wavered or how ominous the dripping of blood from his fingertips felt. It was really a miracle that Neji had pulled off what he had. After shrinking his Juken's territory and allowing the speedy nin to get in close, Neji had reacted the moment the other shinobi had struck. He hadn't moved fast enough, though, taking the blow that opened the wound in his shoulder, but trade-off had been a nasty Juken blow to Rai's heart, disrupting its rhythm and opening a small tear in the muscle, allowing blood to spill out.

In short, Rai was dying slowly as blood filled his chest cavity, putting pressure on his heart and lungs. The end effect was similar to crucifixion, with Rai slowly suffocating on his own body fluids.

"I tore your heart," Neji answered simply, feeling proud of himself that he managed to get out a coherent sentence. It felt like he could pass out at any time.

Rai wheezed something that sounded like 'bastard'. When his mouth moved again, blood spilled out like water, but Neji caught the movement. He was asking the name of the technique.

"Ryuusei…Juken." He answered with a small smirk. "Since you were too fast for a normal Juken territory, I had to shrink it so I could respond when you were committed to the attack, which you don't do until you're mere seconds away. I countered it by making my entire body a Juken territory and allowed the attack to flow by. Like water." He scowled at his shoulder. "Apparently it still needs work."

Rai lurched, blood exploding from his mouth, then his eyes rolled back and he pitched forward, dead before he hit the ground. Neji slumped, exhaustion sweeping over him, before he turned and stumbled away, leaving Rai lying in the street, illuminated by the burning village.

* * *

On the peak of the pass that led from the village into the mountains, Naruto and Itachi quit their walking, stopping in the deeply shadowed mouth of the mountain. The stoic Uchiha turned and gazed back out at the village below, Sharingan picking up details of the Haruno girl's battle with one of the missing-nin. It was the only one still going, if you discounted the one between the two lords.

Naruto glared at the traitor's back, wanting nothing more to shove a Rasengan through his gut, but knowing that the Uchiha wouldn't expose his back unless he was absolutely sure that he could counter whatever Naruto could do to him. Before the blond could react or look away, Itachi faced him and the jounin found himself staring into…

A perfectly normal set of eyes.

Naruto, whose hand had been half way to his kunai holster, relaxed, puzzling over why the Akatsuki member had allowed himself to deactivate his precious kekkei genkai. "What's this all about?" The blond demanded roughly, his impatience winning over his control, forcing him to speak. "Why'd you call me out?"

Itachi didn't respond immediately, instead choosing to sit down on the ground and stare out at Lahan as it burned. It held a certain macabre attraction to both of the men. "Naruto-kun," the Uchiha finally said after a moment of silence, "have you ever regretted a decision you made?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto demanded, hand drifting to his holster again. Itachi was probably aware of the motion, but instead of trying to stop it, he gestured to the ground beside him, inviting Naruto to sit.

When the jounin didn't move, Itachi snorted softly. "You're more paranoid than the fools on the council. I came to talk, as I said before."

"I don't trust you any further than I can throw you." Nevertheless, some compulsion drove the Jinchuuriki to the ground beside the other missing-nin.

"I'm in pain, Naruto-kun," Itachi replied, disregarding the snide remark.

"Mangenkyou finally getting to you?" The other asked with a vindictive snort. "Can't say you don't deserve it." Both men knew about the downside to the Mangenkyou. How it slowly ate away at the users eyesight until they were blind. Some would call it horrible, but to a shinobi with enough training, it would be no great handicap. After all, most of a shinobi's work was done where there was no way to see anything.

Itachi's head shook. "No. Not physical pain," he said, one painted finger tapping himself over his heart. "No, I'm in terrible emotional pain."

"Growing a conscience?" Naruto asked sarcastically. When was this bastard going to get to the point? "Can't sleep with the ghosts of your clan haunting your nightmares?"

The Uchiha missing-nin snorted again. "The Uchiha Clan. I guess that's where this all begins." Dark eyes regarded the blond. "Tell me, Naruto-kun, do you know _why_ I slaughtered my clan that night?"

"Cause you're a cruel and heartless bastard?"

"Hardly. Naruto-kun, what would you do in my shoes I wonder?" Itachi asked, surging ahead before Naruto could respond. "Called a prodigy from the time you were five. Mastering your clan's bloodline at an extraordinary age, then being sent out on missions to kill before you're even ten years old. Seeing all that death and destruction that no child should. Tell me, Naruto-kun, what would it do to you?"

Naruto surprised himself by almost feeling sorry for the bastard beside him. "It would fuck me up something terrible, I guess," he answered.

The Uchiha made a noise that almost sounded like a laugh. "It would fuck you up? I suppose that's one way to put it. Would you want to fight again after seeing all that?" Dark eyes looked straight into Naruto's blue ones. The blond shivered as Itachi seemed to stare into the depths of his soul. "Would you want your friends and family to see that? To see what you've seen and do what you've done?"

"No, of course not. Why are you asking me this?"

Itachi's gaze returned to the village below. "Because that's exactly what I went through," he murmured, profile lit by a bright explosion from down below as the Swamp of the Underworld below caught fire. The heat and concussion reached them a second later, a dull drumbeat to punctuate Itachi's statement. "I didn't want anyone to go through that, so I threw myself into defending the village, putting its peace and tranquility before everyone and everything in my life."

"Bullshit!" Naruto shouted, shooting to his feet. "You slaughtered your whole goddamn _family_!"

"Sit, Naruto-kun." There was a soft note of command in the Uchiha's voice. Naruto found himself back on the ground. "Much like you would throw away the village to save a friend, I threw away my family to save the village."

The blond still had his doubts, but something in Itachi's tone made Naruto wonder if he was really telling the truth. Itachi continued. "You see, Naruto-kun, I wanted nothing more than peace for Konohagakure. I _still _want nothing more. The reason I slaughtered my clan was because I was ordered to."

Electricity jumped up Naruto's spine, making him sit bolt upright. He wanted to say something, but reigned himself in. "I was ordered to by the Sandaime Hokage himself."

An image of the kindly old man that Naruto had admired as an idol and loved like a grandfather flashed across his thoughts. "You're…lying!" He bellowed. "You have to be! Old man Sandaime wouldn't do anything like that!"

"He valued the safety of the village just as I did," Itachi answered calmly. "It was not a decision he made lightly, I can assure you of that."

"But why?"

"Because. My clan was planning a coup de tat of Konoha, the fruits of a bitter resentment that my clan has held against the Shodai Hokage since the dawn of the village's history. It's an old hatred, and something I won't put you to sleep with. However, you do need to know that it ended with my clan being segregated from the rest of the village."

"Yeah right," Naruto scoffed. "You guys were revered! Hell, even _I _can remember how much everyone respected the Uchiha!"

"Only by the populace," Itachi countered. "To the brass, we were a liability, a dangerous tumor that could erupt and destroy the village's peace at any time. To counter that, they decided to plant a spy within the Uchiha ranks to monitor the village and report back on the goings-on of the clan. Do you have any idea who that spy was, Naruto-kun?"

"You?"

"Exactly. The day after I killed my clan, the coup would have taken place, plunging our village into civil war. I loved my family, Sasuke most of all, but I also loved Konoha and I couldn't just let it go to hell. Do you see my dilemma, Naruto-kun? On one hand, I would have to butcher everyone I held dear to me. On the other, the slaughter would be so much greater if the civil war were to have begun." Itachi's eyes darkened. "So, that night, I waited until nightfall, then began to kill every member of the Uchiha clan. One by one, I invaded their houses, killed everyone inside, then moved on. Block by block, until every last Uchiha was dead. Except for one."

"Sasuke," Naruto breathed.

Itachi nodded. "He was late getting home from the Academy that night, and I had hoped to be long gone by the time he arrived. However, he saw me, standing over the corpses of our mother and father, my katana still wet with their blood. So, to give him a reason to live, I turned the affection he held for me to bitter hatred. Naruto-kun, my orders were to kill every Uchiha."

"So why leave Sasuke alive?" Naruto asked, curiosity getting the better of him. It was interesting to hear a second side to the infamous Uchiha Massacre, even if it was probably a lie.

"I couldn't kill my heart. I couldn't bring myself to kill my only brother, the only one in that wretched nest of vipers I had any affection for after learning about the plans for the coup. My own _father_ was the ringleader!" For the first time, Itachi seemed angry, eyes flashing crimson briefly before he got himself under control. The Uchiha lapsed into a brooding silence. He spoke an instant before Naruto could. "Do you see the source of my pain now, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto shook his head.

"On one hand, I cannot bring myself to kill Sasuke. On the other, I cannot allow that same brother to destroy the village, which I have continued to protect from afar." Itachi's eyes found Naruto, Sharingan flaring to life. "Then there is you, Uzumaki Naruto. You are willing to kill Sasuke if you meet him again." Before Naruto could process what happened, Itachi lunged, picking the jounin off his feet and slamming him into the hard granite wall of the pass hard enough to crack it. "Haven't I just said that I cannot allow Sasuke to die? That I cared too much for him? So, Uzumaki Naruto. Tell me. What should I do now? Why should I not kill you to save Sasuke from dying by your hand?"

Some part of Naruto managed to notice a change in Itachi's voice. He sounded lost. He was really asking Naruto for advice. He wanted to know where to go from here. The blond could only speculate at what the Uchiha must be going through. It was either allow Sasuke to destroy Konoha, or kill Sasuke, the only person Itachi had ever cared for. It was a dilemma that brought Itachi's most basic instincts into conflict with each other. Would he allow his brother to butcher the village? Or would he kill his brother to save them?

"Sasuke…" Naruto trailed off, unwilling to meet the elder Uchiha's eyes, both for practical reasons and that he simply _couldn't_. "Itachi," the use of the other man's name made the death grip on his shirt slacken a bit, "the Sasuke we both knew and loved is dead." Somehow, admitting that aloud to Sasuke's brother made it all the harder for Naruto to bear. He felt tears welling in his eyes as he forced himself to continue, though to be fair, while he'd been spouting off this 'I have to kill Sasuke' stuff, he'd sort of not believed it himself. To speak it now was committing himself to the act. In Naruto's mind, once he said to Itachi that Sasuke was beyond rescue, then there was no going back. "Orochimaru killed him the moment he put that Cursed Seal of Heaven on Sasuke's neck."

The grip holding Naruto up vanished abruptly, allowing the blond to slide to the ground. "So. You're telling me that I should kill my heart one last time and finish the job I started that fateful night?" Itachi asked, lilting voice carrying an undercurrent of sorrow and anger. "Is that it?" The Sharingan glared down from on high. At that instant, Naruto saw why Itachi was one of the most feared geniuses ever produced by a clan. He seemed twenty feet high, with eyes like the coals of Hell. The blond, despite his power and the back up of his tenant, found his hand shaking involuntarily on the ground beside him.

"Itachi," Naruto grunted as he clambered to his feet, brushing himself off. "I don't like it any more than you do. But Sasuke is gone. What's in his place is more like Orochimaru than Sasuke." Cerulean eyes glared into violently red Sharingan. "Have you seen Sasuke? I mean, have you seen him since he went to the snake bastard?"

It was faint, but Naruto saw the shake of the head.

"Well, he's nothing like you remember. He's sadistic, power hungry, blood thirsty, and probably more insane than _you_ are!"

"You think I'm insane?" Itachi whispered dangerously.

"Hell yeah!" Naruto shot back. "How insane do you have to be to invent a story like yours! 'Ordered by the Sandaime'? Give me a fucking break! He would never…" A vice-like hand clamped over his mouth, pinning him to the wall again, a knife at his throat. Naruto's eyes went wide. He hadn't even seen the attack coming, much less sensed it.

"Now I see why the pink kunoichi is always smacking you around," Itachi said, eyes glinting dangerously, as if he wanted nothing more than to draw that kunai across Naruto's throat. "You have this innate ability to piss people off. However," the kunai vanished back into the folds of the Akatsuki cloak and reappeared with a small scroll, "here, take this. It's a handwritten missive from me directly to the two bastards that Tsunade calls advisors. They'll corroborate my story."

The scroll was forced into Naruto's waist pouches, then the hand vanished from the blonde's mouth, allowing him to speak again. The jounin didn't do anything aside from massage his jaw, blue eyes calculating, as he tried to find away to kill Itachi right then and there.

Itachi turned to leave. He stopped and tossed one glare back at the blond jounin. "I don't believe for a second that Sasuke is beyond rescue. And you are wrong about the Sandaime. He put the village first. If that meant slaughtering a clan to save collectively greater lives of the village, then he would have done it. He _did_ do it." The Uchiha turned again. "I'm going to find Sasuke and observe him for a while. If he is as you say, then I shall come before you again. If he is not as you say, then I shall return to you. And we, Uzumaki Naruto, shall fight to the death."

The shadows flickered and Itachi was gone.

Despite himself, Naruto found himself shivering. He didn't know if he could beat the rogue Uchiha by himself, even with the Kyuubi. After all, that thrice-damned Sharingan had the ability to suppress the Kyuubi's youki. If it came down to it, Naruto might be the one who would die. Then again, Naruto was sure that Sasuke, the Sasuke he knew, was dead. Either way, the jounin would be seeing Uchiha Itachi again.

He pulled out the small scroll that Itachi had forced on him. He didn't know if the story Itachi had told him was true, but if the two old crones from Konoha were in on it, they wouldn't refuse a request from their accomplice right?

'**Don't be so sure, brat,'** the Kyuubi muttered from its place inside him as Naruto vaulted for the burning town below.

* * *

Sakura and Enishi slammed together, the force of their hit making the swamp beneath them roil and writhe, as if a monster was churning the depths. Both were hit in the jaw, Sakura managing to bite back a cry as she felt her jaw snap. Even before she'd landed, she'd reset the bone and was in the process of healing it. To continue fixing her wounds like she was was taxing her chakra to its limit and she didn't know for how much longer she would be able to keep it up.

'I have to end this soon,' Sakura thought desperately, gingerly touching her throbbing jaw. Something told her she would be a walking bruise by the end of the night. 'But how do I do it if he can repair his armor just like that?' The hut she was on lurched violently beneath her, almost sending the kunoichi into the sticky purple mess before she managed to recover.

"Don't fall, little girl," Enishi called with a mocking sing-song voice. The hut he stood on wasn't much better off, but at least the foundation was eroding out from underneath him. Sakura glared at him but otherwise didn't respond. Doing so would've only encouraged him. The kunoichi lost herself in throwing strategy after strategy around her head, each more likely than the last. No matter how many times she bashed his armor to pieces, he could and would only reform her, keeping her on the defensive.

"Here I come!"

The rocky behemoth launched himself into the sky with more ease and grace than Sakura ever thought possible. The hut she was standing on blew itself to pieces as the heavy monstrosity slammed to earth. The golem's face was disdainful. "Missed," he muttered to himself. Standing on another rooftop was Sakura, perspiring like a pig and breathing heavily. She'd used a great deal of her remaining chakra to get around that hit.

Reluctantly, she pulled a soldier pill out of her pouch and gulped it down, a heady rush of chakra flooding her like someone had opened a floodgate within her. She stood, all signs of exhaustion gone and chakra back to where it belonged. Sakura didn't like to use soldier pills. She thought of them like a drug. If she used them too much, she would become dependant, like Kiba, and that was something that she and every other shinobi she knew tried to avoid.

"Oh? Ready for round two?" Enishi asked with a grin. He lunged at her again. Sakura's emerald eyes flashed as she dug frantically in her pouch again. She flung a kunai at the behemoth coming at her like a freight train. The knife glanced uselessly off his hard rocky skin, but the explosive tag on the hilt wasn't meant for him either. As the weapon landed in the sticky smelly goo below, the tag detonated.

With an ear-shattering roar and a blinding flash, the whole swamp caught fire, the concussion catching Enishi in mid leap, throwing him into the sky and allowing him to fall towards the scorching hell below. His massive fingers twisted together, there was a tremendous puff of smoke, then Enishi was flying again, the Kage Bunshin he had made tumbling into the flaming liquid.

"Little WHORE!" he shouted, enraged. His ears were ringing, he was half blind, and the hut he stood on didn't feel entirely stable to him. His armor was also deeply fractured and he could feel it rubbing against injured and cut skin, both old and brand new. Sakura only grinned at him, making the last of the four missing-nin see red. He went to leap at her, but lurched like he'd been hamstrung and tipped into the swamp, yelling angrily as he sank out of sight in the burning conflagration.

Sakura blinked. Just who had helped her? There was no one behind Enishi, or so she thought. An arm appeared from underneath the beam Enishi had been standing on. With a grunt, Hinata pulled herself onto the roof of the collapsed hut, smiling rather sheepishly at Sakura.

"Hinata-chan?" Sakura asked incredulously.

The lady of Lahan nodded. "Sorry it took me so long, Sakura-san," she answered with a small bow. "I had to wait until he wasn't paying attention to cut the nerves in his legs."

"Wait," the other woman said, leaping onto same roof. It shattered beneath the increase in weight, forcing both women to leap for their lives, lest they wanted to get burned alive by the fiery swamp. It wasn't until they were well clear of the devastation that they stopped to talk. "So how did he not fall over right away?"

Hinata smiled sweetly, though Sakura shivered. "His armor held him up," she answered simply. "It's like the shell on a crab. It held him up, even when I cut the nerves in his legs. He didn't notice until he tried to move and ended up unbalancing himself."

Sakura scowled good-naturedly. "So you didn't do this earlier why?"

"I was just looking for the right opening."

The pink-haired kunoichi laughed as she turned glowing green hands on herself, finally having the opportunity to truly treat herself. In less than ten minutes, it was over and Sakura was almost back to peak condition, minus a significant chakra drain. "So now what?" She asked.

Hinata's eyes narrowed. "Now," she replied dangerously, "we go after my husband." Sakura nodded then two kunoichi vanished as one.

* * *

Two sliver swords slammed together, ringing as steel met steel, the weapons tangling, clashing, and sparking before whirling apart only to slam together again. The wielders of those blades, Ren and Yoritomo, glared daggers at each other as they fought like a pair of dancers. Tenten, as a weapons specialist herself, was mesmerized by the deadly dance going on in front of her. The two swordsmen never seemed to touch the ground, only float across it, as if the earth was only something to push against.

"You're still as horrible as ever with a blade," Ren spat as he swept aside the other's strike, only to follow up with one of his own.

"While you," Yoritomo shot back, "have only gotten worse." He lunged.

"Oh really?"

The corrupt lord's eyes widened as he realized that he'd stabbed at nothing, his sword piercing only the air. The voice had come from behind him. With a wild yell, the shorter man spun, sword splitting the air, slamming into Ren's onrushing blade, the force of the collision rippling up both men's arms. The gray-haired man grunted, shifted, and pushed, sending Yoritomo tumbling over the ground as Ren leaped into the night sky.

"**Ryutsuisen!**" he thundered as he fell like a hawk on the still-rolling Yoritomo. No sooner had he come to a stop, than he had to throw himself backwards to avoid Ren's slamming to earth. Where the kodachi had struck, there was a deep furrow in the hard-packed dirt, the blade immovable.

"Now you die!" Yoritomo howled with glee as he rushed in, the larger man trying to free his blade. He ran into a brick wall. Next thing the illegitimate potentate knew, he was flying through the air, with only a memory of the rough sandal tread that had slammed into his face as his only clue as to how that had happened.

"Looks like you need help," Naruto said to the scarred swordsman behind him. Ren gave a huge tug on his weapon, wrenching it free before slamming it into its scabbard.

"Not at all," he answered, "though I won't deny I'm happy you came along when you did."

Tenten caught a flash of a katana in Naruto's hand. "Want to tag team him?"

The samurai shook his head. "No. This is an honorable duel, not one of your dirty shinobi operations. I will beat this usurper in one-on-one combat." Slate eyes glanced sidelong at the blond jounin. "I need no help from an amateur."

To Tenten's surprise, Naruto didn't erupt into one of his tirades like she thought. He nodded, sheathed his katana and stood aside, allowing Ren to step into his place. The blond was at her side a moment later.

"You alright Tenten?" he asked as he took her hand in his own, looking at the bloody bandages that were wrapped around her palm, the souvenir from Yoritomo's blade. He removed the wrappings and looked at the injury. "Not too deep, but you'll need to see Sakura after this or Baa-chan when we get back." The kunoichi felt her face get hot for some reason. This more serious Naruto was new to her, but oddly…not something she didn't like.

A black shape appeared behind Naruto.

"Die damned shinobi!" Yoritomo shouted as his blade plunged for the blonde's back.

"Naru…" that was as far as Tenten got. Before she'd even started speaking, the blond was moving, his left arm sweeping out and around behind him, knocking the blade aside, using the momentum to spin to face Yoritomo, his other fist crashing into the lord's face with a sharp crack that even Ren heard. The lord bounced and rolled down the street like a rag doll before coming to a stop near Aisha's senbon-riddled corpse.

Cold rage radiated from Naruto as he looked down at the quivering lord, who was getting back to his feet, holding what had to be a broken jaw. He didn't move though. He just glared, letting Ren move in and take the initiative, the deposed lord's sword darting and flashing, a silver snake with keen fangs that would gut Yoritomo in a heartbeat.

"Let's get out of the way, Tenten-chan," Naruto said, leaping onto a hut that hadn't caught fire yet. The kunoichi followed, watching the battle raging below as it heated up now that Ren wasn't trying to protect Tenten. A hard landing made them both turn.

"Neji!" Tenten shouted alarmed. The genius was bleeding from his shoulder and looked like he'd come off the loser of a fight with a blender. Blood was pouring from numerous cuts, he was bruised, the tie that held his hair back gone, allowing his brown locks to flow free.

"I'm alright," he said faintly, but he allowed Tenten to get to work on his shoulder as she cleaned and bandaged it. "What's going on?"

"Yoritomo's fighting Ren, the man I met at the pub," Naruto answered, glancing over his shoulder. Neji could see something was on the blonde's mind, but let it go, also noting a change in the jounin's demeanor. There was something different about his eyes and the way he held himself.

'What happened Naruto?' Neji asked silently. The former missing-nin offered no reply, verbal or otherwise.

"What about the blond guy?" Naruto asked.

Neji smiled nastily. "Dead. I pierced his heart with Juken."

"I killed Aisha," Tenten added, nodding to the corpse in the corner of the street.

"And I got Hyotoko," Naruto finished. "That's three of four. Now we just need…"

"Enishi's dead," Sakura interrupted as she and Hinata landed next to Naruto. "Hinata knocked him into the swamp." The two new arrivals took over helping Neji from Tenten, Sakura pressing a green hand to the injured man's shoulder. To everyone's surprise, Hinata did the same.

"I read a few scrolls," She explained, seeing everyone's startled glances. Neji stood, feeling as if he'd climbed out of a warm bath. Sakura stood and dusted herself off.

"You need to take it easy for a week," the medic said seriously. "If you don't that will reopen. I wasn't able to totally heal it, since I'm kinda low on chakra right now and Hinata-chan's not advanced enough."

"Sorry, Neji-niisan," Hinata said, looking away, her old habits coming back to her. The prodigy smiled, putting an arm around her, making her look up.

"It's alright, Hinata-sama," he said with a small smile. "You did your best, that's all we can ask." Hinata returned the smile with a nod, then her eyes sharpened as she noticed Ren and Yoritomo fighting down below. She moved to leap off the roof, but stopped when Naruto held out a hand.

He offered no explanation but shook his head. Hinata seemed to come to a silent understanding and nodded, backing off.

Yoritomo shrieked as Ren's sword bit him, slicing skin through armor. Blood splattered the ground, dripping from the tip of the true lord's kodachi.

"Now this is the end," Ren said confidently, flicking the tip of his blade, sending the excess flying. "Your comrades are dead, Hinata-san is no longer under your control, and I have returned to take by status as Lord of Lahan back. Surrender and you will be spared death. I hear that the Fire Daimyo is merciful."

"Never!" The other spat. "I will fight to the death!" He was bleeding profusely, his limbs slowly growing heavier. Ren had hit something vital. If Yoritomo didn't get treatment soon, he would die. He took a stance that Tenten recognized. "Prepare yourself!"

Ren sighed. "I see. So, Yoritomo, this is how it ends? Fine." His sword vanished back into his scabbard. "Then I shall give you a warrior's death, though you don't deserve it." He took a different stance, sword hand hovering just over the hilt.

"Iaijutsu," Tenten muttered. "This will be the final blow."

Yoritomo lunged as Ren closed his eyes. "**Gatoutsu!**"

Ren's eyes snapped open, his hand whisking the kodachi from its sheath faster than anyone without a Sharingan could follow. "**Kuzuryusen!**" Ren grunted as his shoulder was sliced open by Yoritomo's weapon, but the false lord was hit harder, nine different areas on his body exploding in a fountain of blood. Yoritomo was thrown away, blood gently arcing as he few back.

He slammed to earth with an ominous finality. Ren stood up straight, whipped his sword through the air to clear the blood on the blade, then slid the weapon into its sheath right as the katana Yoritomo had been wielding stuck quivering in the road. It had been pulled from his shoulder when Yoritomo had been hit then the fake lord had lost his grip on it and it had sailed into the air.

The man fell to his knees, but didn't feel a thing. All he felt was relief.

"It's finally over," he breathed. A hand made him look up. Naruto was smiling down at him. Ren grinned back, taking his hand, allowing himself to be hauled up. "Thank you Uzumaki," he said. "You have helped me to reclaim what is mine."

"What're you talking about?" Naruto asked, cocking his head like a curious fox.

Ren laughed. "You are dense aren't you? I'm the lord of this village!"

"WHAT!?" Naruto shouted. "But you said that…aren't you supposed to be dead!?"

"You really are an idiot," Sakura sighed. "He survived obviously and hid here in the village looking for the right opportunity."

"No," the lord corrected. "I never hid. I stayed to protect the villagers. I never expected to get my village back."

"Fine," Naruto said with a laugh. "You keep telling yourself that."

"Damn shinobi," Ren growled, but there was no heat to his tone.

"Blockhead samurai," The blond countered just as fast. The two grinned.

The sun peeked over the horizon. It was a new day in Lahan, and the brightening sky looked like it was the first of many more to come.

* * *

Two weeks later, Naruto and crew stood at the gates of the estate in Lahan. For the last fortnight, the team had been working tirelessly to extinguish fires, find the missing, tend to the injured, bury the dead, and work to rebuild the ravaged town. It turned out that Yoritomo wasn't all that popular, either in town or among his own house. The moment Ren announced the death of the false lord and that he had returned, the town had gone crazy with glee, and had been working with an almost fanatical furvor ever since.

The only that had been sad to see Yoritomo go was Oda. The little boy had locked himself in his room; refusing to come out, talk with anyone, or even, as far as Team Naruto knew, eat. Ren, however, had been optimistic.

"I wouldn't worry about the kid," he'd said. "I'll get him out of there and turn him into a real samurai. It might take a while, but I'll make it happen." The matter with Hinata had been resolved too. She had asked Ren if she would be required to stay.

The lord had waved it off. "No. You were married to Yoritomo. Yoritomo is dead. You are a widow." He cocked an eyebrow that made sure the shinobi caught the hidden meaning. "Widows are hard to take care of in this day and age. If you want to stay, I certainly won't object, but I think a widow needs her family to take care of her."

Neji and Hinata had both bowed deeply at the remark. So much so that Ren went red. "Please, none of that. It makes me feel proper and I hate proper pomp and circumstance."

"That makes two of us," Naruto muttered.

Now the team of five was getting ready to leave the town and were in the process of saying their final goodbyes to Ren, who was in the silken finery of the lord that looked rather good on him, or so the kunoichi of the team thought.

"It's been fun Ren." Naruto said with a grin, clasping the other man's hand.

"If you ever need help," Ren answered, "don't hesitate to come by."

"We will," Sakura assured.

They turned to leave.

A voice stopped them. "Wait!"

It was Oda. He was standing at the gate next to Ren, breathing as if he had just run all the way from his room.

"What's he doing here?" Tenten asked.

"I went to talk with him," Hinata said with a small smile. "He wouldn't see me so I just said what I wanted through the door and left."

"What'd you say to get the little ice cube to open up?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"That's between me and him, Naruto-kun," Hinata answered. She knelt. Oda ran to her, embracing her, tears welling in his eyes.

"I'm so sorry," he said between sniffles. "I'm so sorry." Hinata hugged him close, whispering something that no one could see or hear. Finally he released her and stood back, eyes shining with unshed tears. "I'm sorry for the way I acted everyone. I…only heard about Hinata-san from my father so…" he seemed unable to finish, too caught up in his own guilt.

"It's alright," Sakura said gently.

"Yeah," Tenten added. "As long as you see the error of your ways."

They looked expectantly at Naruto and Neji. Neither looked very enthusiastic about forgiving the kid. Sakura cracked her knuckles.

Naruto gulped. "Just stay out of trouble kid."

"You did apologize, and that takes more courage than killing men in battle," Neji added. "We'll forgive you."

"Thank you everyone," Oda said, finally smiling.

With that, the group turned for Konoha then leapt away, bounding easily across rooftops and trees, the villagers waving at them. They'd heard and witnessed the tales of the battles that the five shinobi had fought and every man, woman, and child felt indebted to them for saving Lahan from the terror of the Four Corners.

The sun warmed the backs of the shinobi as they left Lahan behind them, heading for their own homes and their own loved ones waiting for them.

* * *

LATE! Dammit. I hate it when I'm late. Blame a friend of mine. He got me hooked on Burnout Paradise. Fun game. One of the few racing games I can honestly say I like. Never mind that my flight instructor has dumped a shit ton of new material on me. First flight plans and now I have to memorize an entire new set of checklists for the new plane I'll be flying. Anyhow, hope you enjoyed the chapter. See you next time!

**Ryuusei Juken (Flowing Water Gentle Fist): **I got the idea from History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi. Hilarious anime and manga, you should totally go watch/read it. Neji shrinks the territory his Juken covers to allow him to react with split-second timing. The jutsu thus far is incomplete.

**Kuzuryusen (Nine-headed Dragon Strike): **I stole this one directly from Rurouni Kenshin. Kenshin and Seijuro Hiko both use this technique. It's a lunge that's so fast that it's impossible to dodge and it hits every striking point in kenjutsu almost simultaniously.

**Gatoutsu: **Another technique taken straight from Rurouni Kenshin. Sadly, I wasn't able to find a translation. It's Saito Hajime's technique, a vicious high-speed stab with multiple applications, including using it with bare fists. I thought it would be a good techniuqe for Yoritomo.


	25. Contemplation

Disclaimer: Own nadda

* * *

The few days travel from Lahan to Konoha took a bit longer than before since Hinata was sort of out of shape from when she'd been a Konoha kunoichi and also it didn't help that there was a late-season thunderstorm that blew up with only a few hours warning, dumping sheets of rain down on the five ninja for the rest of the day, forcing them to stop their traveling in favor of finding somewhere where they _wouldn't _get hit by lighting.

"I've had enough of that," Neji agreed when Tenten had suggested that they lay low for a while and see if the storm would blow itself out in a few hours. In the end, the three-day journey ended up taking closer to five. The sun was setting on the eve of the fifth day when a familiar rock ledge adorned by the stony faces of the rulers of Konoha came into view, followed a few minutes later by the high wall that surrounded the village.

"Home at last!" Sakura sighed, stretching her arms above her head.

"I never thought I'd see it again," Hinata murmured, looking happy, relieved, nervous, and hesitant all at the same time. "Neji-niisan, what do we do about Father?"

"Your husband's dead," Neji responded for the umpteenth time. Hinata had voiced the same question periodically over the last few days, the question growing ever more frequent and worried the closer to Konoha they got. "There's nothing he _can_ do."

"Besides," Naruto added easily, throwing a casual arm around Hinata, making her go red, "if he isn't happy to see you, he's got a stick up his ass farther than Neji does and you'd better off without him."

"Naruto!" Sakura growled, pulling him off the other kunoichi by the scruff of his cloak, "You're not helping!"

"I'm just saying!"

Tenten and Hinata sighed at Naruto's attempts at comfort. "I'm sure Naruto's right," Tenten finally said as Sakura began pushing Naruto towards the gates of the village, "you're father will probably be pretty happy to see you, even if he doesn't show it." Hinata smiled gently, looking visibly more at ease than she had just a minute before, then resumed her walk towards the gates with a renewed sense of confidence.

'If anything goes wrong,' she thought, 'Naruto-kun and the others are here for me. I'm in good hands.'

* * *

"So, that's it, Baa-chan," Naruto finished. The team was in front of Tsunade's desk, retelling all of what had happened in Lahan to her. However, he'd left out the part where Itachi had shown up and told him a twisted version of what had happened the night the Uchiha were obliterated. That was something between him, Itachi, and the two old crows, who were somewhere in the village apparently. After he got out of here, Naruto's first order of business was to track them down and force them to explain.

"I see," Tsunade answered as her brush stopped moving over the mission report. "Alright." Her piercing gaze met Naruto's, as if she knew he was hiding something and Naruto had to work hard not to look away from her and betray himself. "Is that it?"

"Yeah."

"Fine. All of you have the next three days off to rest up. Hinata, I'll send a copy of this to your father to explain why you returned to the village. Something tells me you'll need all the help you can get."

Hinata bowed. "Thank you very much, Hokage-sama," she murmured.

Tsunade waved the bow off. "Yeah yeah. Now stand up. You're embarrassing me." Hinata looked shocked, not used to the Godaime's straight-forward manner but she shook it off and nodded.

"Well," Naruto said loudly as he stretched, "now that that's outta the way, I'm gonna get me a big steaming bowl of Ichiraku!" He turned and left, along with the others, who split as they emerged from the tower, heading their separate ways.

"Naruto-kun's hiding something isn't he?" Shizune asked, Tonton oinking in her arms.

"He is," Tsunade answered. "I'm sure it's nothing though. Maybe he did something to Hyotoko that he wants to keep hidden."

"Would you be willing to bet on that?" Shizune asked snidely. She had to dodge Tsunade's tea cup as the Fifth carelessly flung it over her shoulder at her assistant.

"Shut up you!"

* * *

"Homura-sama and Koharu-sama?" The man Naruto was questioning asked. "No idea. Why do you need to know anyway, demon?" Naruto snarled and turned away from the man's hateful eyes. It was much the same story everywhere the blond went. The villagers refused him information at every turn, instead asking what he wanted. Sometimes they even ran screaming.

More than once Naruto had had to duck an ANBU that had gotten curious at the commotion that had caused. He stopped, suddenly coming up with a plan.

A few minutes later, Naruto strode into the Hokage Tower again, people looking at him startled, bowing low as he passed. The blond had to do his best not to grin. His prankster background was sure coming in handy here.

"Ah! Godaime-sama!" The receptionist said happily as Tsunade, or rather, Naruto under a Henge, approached the desk. He was hoping that the hidden ANBU in the room didn't make him. Impersonating the Hokage was a serious offense and even Tsunade wouldn't be able to keep him out of jail. "Is there something I can do?"

"Where's Koharu and Homura?" Naruto demanded, doing his best to sound commanding like Baa-chan did.

"Huh? Oh, I believe that they are at their residences, Godaime-sama," The receptionist answered.

"Where's that again?"

"You don't know?" The woman asked.

'Shit. Be careful Uzumaki.'

"I forgot. I don't care where they live. The more they're out of my hair the better, but unfortunately, I need to talk with them about an urgent matter." The receptionist blinked and hesitated, making Naruto bite his lip under the illusion, but finally relented and gave him the addresses.

"Thank you."

He turned and tried not to run from the Tower. Who knew how long those two old farts would remain in one place?

The blond was barely two steps outside the gate when an ANBU stepped in front of him.

"Shit." Naruto muttered before resuming his Tsunade persona. "What?"

"Drop the act, Naruto-kun," the ANBU said, reaching up to pull off his mask. It was only slight, but Naruto instantly recognized the pale skin and dark eye.

"Sai."

The eye curved and Naruto could all but hear the other man's innocent-yet-infuriating smile. Naruto dropped the Henge, knowing he'd been had. "How'd you know?"

The artistic shinobi replaced his mask. "I've spent a great long while with you, Naruto-kun," the masked assassin answered. "I recognized the inflections in your voice, inflections that Godaime-sama doesn't have."

"It's been what, five years, and you still notice that?" Naruto answered, raising an eyebrow. "You expect me to believe that bullshit?"

"It worked did it not?" Sai answered innocently. "I'm sure you are aware of the consequences for impersonating the Hokage?" Naruto didn't answer. "If you do not give me a reason, Naruto-kun," the artist continued, voice dangerous, "then I will have to take you down."

Naruto grinned. "Don't think so, Sai. Sorry, but you lose this one."

The blond exploded in a cloud of smoke. He'd been a Kage Bunshin all along.

The ROOT graduate and ANBU blinked before smiling to himself. "As unpredictable as ever, Naruto-kun." The assassin vanished. Naruto could be any one of a thousand places inside the village and thousands more outside of it. Knowing the blond jounin, he probably had his reasons for impersonating the Kage and Sai would just have to have faith that those reasons were noble and not malicious. That's what friends did after all.

And Sai wasn't all that confident that he could take down Naruto if it came down to blows.

* * *

An old woman doing her afternoon shopping grinned brightly, old liver-spotted face contorting with the wide grin before she dissolved in a burst of smoke, revealing herself to be one Uzumaki Naruto before he launched himself to the rooftops, heading for the two advisers houses.

Luck smiled on him. Both were together at Homura's house, apparently enjoying a nice afternoon tea with the other.

'Uhg, necrophilia is so disgusting,' Naruto thought as he watched from the roof of another house, preparing to make his move. He didn't know that they and Sarutobi had been old teammates.

Koharu was laughing at something Homura said, apparently reminiscing about some antic or other of the Sandaime, who apparently had been quite the energetic young man as a new shinobi. They were about to launch into a new diatribe when Naruto interrupted.

"Having fun?" He asked, eyes searching the room as he stepped from a shadow.

Homura was the first to speak. "What can we help you with, Uzumaki Naruto-san? Surely this is not a social call."

"Hardly," Naruto agreed. He looked at each one, who stared right back. "What can you tell me about Uchiha Itachi and the Uchiha Massacre?" Naruto had to hand it to them. He couldn't find any trace of recognition or surprise in the old shinobi.

"What you know is what we know, Uzumaki-san," Koharu said finally. "Uchiha Itachi went berserk one night and slaughtered his clan. That is what the official investigation found."

"Not the way I hear it," Naruto shot back. "A little birdy told me that he was ordered to by the Sandaime Hokage."

"That is utterly ridiculous," Koharu snipped. "Sarutobi-san would never have sanctioned it."

"Even if the Uchiha were planning a coup?" The jounin argued, crystal eyes narrowing. Now he got a reaction. Both shinobi traded quick glances. If Naruto had been any less experienced than he was, he would've missed it. He reached into a pouch, pulling out a small scroll that hadn't left his hip since he'd received it. He tossed it onto the table. "Let's role play shall we? Let's say that once upon a time, the Uchiha, bitter over some feud with the Shodai Hokage, decided to ursurp the power in Konoha, which would've led to civil war and potentially the Fourth Shinobi War. While we're at it, let's say that Uchiha Itachi became a double agent for Konoha and, on the Sandaime's orders, slaughtered the clan, but spared Uchiha Sasuke before going missing-nin." Naruto glanced from one to the other then at the untouched scroll. "Ring any bells?'"

"Perhaps this latest mission has gotten to you, Uzumaki-san," Homura said slowly. "I think you should see Tsunade-sama or Sakura-san and get checked for fatigue."

"You'll keep playing this off until I go away, won't you." Naruto said. It wasn't a question. "But what if I told you that Uchiha Itachi told me everything and that scroll is from him telling you to tell me what happened?"

"I'd say that is utterly preposterous," Koharu said stiffly. "I think Akatsuki must be trying to confuse you to get the demon you carry." Homura, however, picked up the scroll, cracked the seal, then proceeded to read the scroll, eyes growing wider with every word. Finally, the scroll was set down, the advisor suddenly very very pale.

"Homura?" Koharu asked, breaking the stare down with Naruto.

"It's legitimate," Homura answered, sounding awe-struck. "It's even complete with the verification code Itachi was supposed to use in an emergency."

"Impossible!"

Koharu snatched up the scroll and read it quickly, eyes growing wide just as Homura's had done. "It is Itachi…but why would he want us to reveal it now of all times?"

"So it's true then?" Naruto asked, sounding just as struck as the two old farts. "He really is telling the truth?"

Koharu poured Naruto a cup of tea, then gestured to an empty spot around the small table. "Perhaps you should sit down, Uzumaki-san. This will take a while."

* * *

"So you saw it fit to return to the village?" Hyuuga Hiashi asked his daughter, who knelt across from him in their dining room of the mansion. He'd just finished reading the mission report.

"Yes Father," Hinata answered. She didn't stutter or go red or look away. Hiashi smiled to himself. His eldest daughter had grown up to be a fine woman, just like her mother. The truth was, he hadn't been happy about marrying her off, but then parenting was not his strong point. Killing the enemy was. Still, he had an image to project and it was an invisible mask that he could never let down, not even in the face of his children.

"So you would like to return to duty as an active shinobi?"

"Yes father."

Hiashi watched his daughter sternly. He thought he saw a flinch, but it was there and gone in a second, a bare memory in the time it took to blink. "I see. Since you are a widow and this Ren person seems to be content to let you go, then I have no choice."

Hinata's eyes widened, glistening with tears. "Father?"

Hiashi forced himself to break his mask. It was the least he could do for his daughter, who had gone through so much to return. "Welcome home Hinata." Before he knew what had happened, Hinata was on him, embracing him, crying her thanks over and over. It was awkward for Hiashi, but soon Hinata released him, the kunoichi probably realizing that she was embarrassing him. They stood, awkward. "You…should get going," Hiashi said finally. "You have to be reregistered as an active kunoichi and I'm sure the Konoha Eleven cannot wait to catch up with you again."

"Yes Father!" Hinata answered happily, smiling sweetly, the first time Hiashi had seen her do it in earnest. She left, tossing a quick 'I love you!' over her shoulder. The Hyuuga head didn't know how to respond to that. His lavender eyes dropped closed as he allowed himself a smile.

Then he picked up the newspaper and was once again the frigid Hyuuga head.

"Neji, Hanabi," he said suddenly, causing both ninja to jump, both behind the door behind Hiashi to listen to what would happen to Hinata, "I would appreciate it if you didn't eavesdrop. It is unbecoming of a Hyuuga." Both beat a hasty retreat.

"How did he know?" Hanabi asked as they strode down the hall.

"He's your father," Neji answered, "you tell me!"

* * *

"So he was telling the truth!?" Naruto almost shouted as the two advisers finished their tale.

"Yes," Homura said solemnly.

"I can't believe that that old man would do something like this!" The blond thundered, smashing his fist down on the table, upending all the cups, spilling the scant contents over the polished oak finish of the table.

"Itachi told you that Sarutobi didn't do it lightly and he was right," Homura answered. "To the last, right up until almost the last minute he argued with the Uchiha, trying to make them see reason. In the end, though, Uchiha Fugaku would have none of it and Itachi was unleashed."

"But to just kick Itachi aside," Naruto snarled, glaring at them both, his eyes flashing crimson for a terrifying second, "is that how we treat Konoha shinobi!? If that is the case then I should've let Sasuke wipe this place off the map!"

"Mind your tongue Uzumaki!" Koharu snipped back. "If we had let Itachi remain in the village or if we had divulged the contents of the investigation, it would've caused just as much panic in the village as a full-blown coup would have. Understand, we had no choice and Itachi wanted it. He was well aware of the consequences when he agreed to be a double agent."

"The only concession that we could give him," Homura added, "was that the ANBU would not actively pursue him. They would engage if they found him but other than that, Konoha would leave him alone."

Naruto stood and strode to the window. He stopped and glared back at them, both advisers quailing when they saw that the pupil of his cerulean eye was slitted like a cat's. "You both disgust me," he snarled, then was gone, like a bad gust of wind.

"We should've told him to keep this a secret from everyone," Homura told Koharu.

"He's matured over the years," the other answered, "he knows full well."

"For the sake of this village, you'd better be right."

* * *

For Naruto, the next month and a half passed without any sign of one Uchiha Itachi and the blond was just beginning to wonder if the stoic Uchiha had forgotten his promise to return or if Sasuke had killed him or something. Just when Naruto was beginning to forget about the rogue Uchiha, a note appeared on his desk one day in his room at Tsunade's place when he'd just gotten back from a solo B-rank mission to protect some diplomat. There hadn't been any trouble on the route and Naruto had been quite honestly disappointed with the turn of events. That had all changed when he'd found the note. It was simple and straightforward.

_Murder site, tonight, midnight. My place. Come alone._

_-UI_

'The Uchiha district,' Naruto whispered mentally, trying to ignore that Itachi had slipped past multiple layers of security to get the note to him. 'At Sasuke's house…this ought to be fun.'

At the appointed time, Naruto pulled on his cloak, pulled up the hood, then slipped out of his window sticking to the side of the house as he descended from the second story to the ground below. He slipped past the guards easily with a genjutsu from the Kyuubi, whose illusions were often praised as indistinguishable from reality, then headed across town to the Uchiha sector, dodging patrols and random wanders, staggering home from the red light district.

Naruto arrived at the gate to the Uchiha sector, the ragged banners that bore the clan crest withered and moth-eaten, the fan on the fabric almost faded from existence. The blond shivered as he stepped through into the narrow streets. He could hear the ghosts of the slaughtered clan screaming at him from every corner and he thought he could smell the metallic tang of congealed blood on the chill wind.

Shadows pervaded everywhere, making every alley an ambush point, every house a mini-fortress. It would be tough to fight in an urban environment, and especially in one that Itachi probably knew like the back of his hand and Naruto knew absolutely nothing about. Still it was either this, or risk involving the entire village, which Naruto knew that Itachi wanted even less than the blond. When the moon cast its faint light on the wall next to Naruto he had to stuff his knuckles in his mouth to stop himself from crying out.

There was a tremendous dried brown stain on the wall next to him, blood that had refused to wash away, even in all the rain that had undoubtedly come in the roughly decade and a half since the Massacre. The stain was messy and swept down in an arc to the left, probably from a body that had been thrown against the wall and allowed to sag sideways, leaving the smear. Naruto soon found that the brown stains were as much the rule in the abandoned district as the rule and he hastened his pace to try and get out of there as soon as he could. Hopefully Itachi would only want to talk, not fight.

Finally, after only minutes, but it seemed like an eternity, Naruto arrived at Itachi and Sasuke's house. The old structure was in serious disrepair from years of neglect. Cobwebs distorted Naruto's vision of the interior and dust lay as a blanket over everything, muffling the jounin's footsteps, puffs rising every time his foot met floor.

One section had signs of recent disturbance, the dust agitated and distorted, a small panel pulled away but sloppily replaced.

"Damn."

Despite his misgivings, Naruto lifted the panel and slipped into the depths below, following a small ladder to a set of stone stairs that led down far below the ground. Naruto lost track of how many there were. He stopped counting after two hundred or so. Lit torches were spaced at odd intervals and the blond would be damned if he thought that they'd been burning like this for all this time.

At the end was a huge stone door, which was ajar just a hair, allowing gold light from beyond the portal to spill through and cast a sliver of light over the blonde's body. When he pressed his eye to the crack, Naruto felt a thrill run through him as he spotted Itachi at the other end of the room, beneath a huge Uchiha fan that had some saying, history, or instruction written on it. It reminded Naruto of the saying that was in the tower at the center of the Forest of Death. But that wasn't what was making Naruto want to panic.

It was more the fact that Itachi was staring right at him.

"Come in, Naruto-kun," Itachi called, his soft voice carrying easily over the distance between them. Naruto scowled, but threw open the doors and stepped into the hall, which was lit by bronze bowls that had fire blazing in them. The room was still chill though, despite the heat from six bowls.

The remains of a meal sat at Itachi's feet. Onigiri if the rice and moist strip was anything to go by.

"Welcome to the Uchiha's most sacred place," Itachi said solemnly. "This is a place that only a few know about and no outsider has ever set foot in. Except for you that is." He gestured to the wall behind him. "Written there is the instructions for obtaining the Mangenkyou Sharingan and along the walls is the whole torrid history of the Uchiha clan, from founding to only a few years before the downfall."

"Downfall?" Naruto repeated as he took in the surroundings. "Is that what you call it?"

"What would you call it, Naruto-kun?" Itachi answered, head tilting like some curious puppy. Or a ghoul. The jounin had to suppress a shiver.

"I still call it murder."

Itachi nodded. "Yes. It is murder, but you too have murdered. What do you call indiscriminately butchering any Oto-nins you find?"

"Protection of Konoha," Naruto snapped, knowing that what he'd done was no better than Itachi. But still, at least the Oto-nins weren't Naruto's own family. "But so is what shinobi do everyday. It's all murder and to a lot of people we're only evil barbarians, but we justify it by saying it's a job or that it was for the good of the village."

Itachi nodded. "A succinct and correct summary. However, I didn't come to discuss philosophy with you, Naruto-kun. What I came to discuss was my little brother."

"You found him?" Naruto asked, suddenly all ears. If he could end Sasuke's threat now, then Naruto would be gone that instant, approval or no approval from either Itachi or Tsunade.

"No," Itachi answered, shooting down Naruto's hope all at once. "What I have done, however, was find every site he's been to since he left Konoha, beginning with the Valley of the End, where you two had that rather titanic battle."

Naruto winced. That was still a sore memory for him. It was the site of his biggest failure ever. It was where he'd failed to stop his surrogate brother from betraying everything he held dear. "Moving on," he said quickly. Itachi nodded, picking up on Naruto's discomfort.

"I've also spoken with people who've seen Sasuke, who've lived with him, worked with him, fought with him, and seen how he led the Sound." Tears suddenly began to pour from Itachi's eyes. Naruto was taken aback. Crying was the last thing he'd ever expected the infamous Uchiha Itachi to do. "I still cannot believe it. I don't _want _to believe it, but I have to force myself to see what is right in front of my eyes." He took a deep breath and the tears stopped just as fast as they had started. "After everything I've seen, I have to agree with you, Naruto-kun. Sasuke…at least my little brother Sasuke, is gone."

The silence was deafening.

"However," Itachi said after a spell, breaking the silence, "unlike you, I refuse to believe that he is totally gone. I know Sasuke is somewhere in that _thing_ he's become."

"What're you saying?" Naruto asked, suddenly wary, hand drifting to his shuriken holster.

Itachi was suddenly behind him, getting there with no sign of movement. A rough hand seized the hand that was going for the weapon and bent it roughly to a very painful position. "I'm saying that I'm not so willing to give up on my brother," the other Uchiha said dangerously. "And I'm willing to kill you to protect him."

"How?" Naruto grunted through gritted teeth as he tried to find a way to get out of the hold. It was no use. Itachi was too good at what he did to leave an opening.

"Genjutsu," Itachi answered, "cast on you the moment you walked through the entrance to the district. You thought you were following me, but in reality it was the other way around. You were foolish, Naruto-kun. You have progressed a great deal, but you still have a long way to go."

Naruto grinned suddenly. "You'd think that wouldn't you?" he asked. Crimson youki suddenly burst from his arm, searing Itachi's hand, forcing to the prodigy to let go or risk having his hand burned to ash. Naruto massaged his wrist as he faced Itachi again.

"So you're going to kill me to stop me from killing Sasuke?" Naruto cracked his crimson-shrouded limb. "Sorry. I'm not ready to die yet!" He threw the arm forward, a claw of red youki shooting forth, slamming Itachi into the wall headfirst. The genius went limp, then suddenly burst into a flapping, cawing, cloud of ravens that had Sharingan eyes that mobbed Naruto, forcing him to throw up one arm and shield his eyes.

The flock subsided.

Naruto blinked, spinning. Itachi was still standing near the remains of the meal, as if he'd never moved an inch. "Damn, I _hate_ genjutsu!" He especially hated Itachi's. The other man was so good that he could cast it just by looking at you or pointing. He could also pack multiple layers into one jutsu, so by the time you got out, Itachi could either kill you or leave and you'd never find him.

"Let's pretend that didn't happen," Naruto growled, resisting the urge to just let Kyuubi run roughshod over Itachi. In this enclosed space, even an Uchiha would be torn to pieces by the fox. The genius nodded. "So, what do you really want?"

"Your help."

Naruto almost fell on his face. "Say what!?"

"You are famous for being most relentless, Naruto-kun," Itachi explained. "Akatsuki, the soldiers of the Sound, Zabuza, Orochimaru, they all have seen you remarkable tenacity. No matter how bleak the situation, you continue to go forward, always striving for victory, no matter the cost to yourself." The three dark marks on Itachi's Sharingan seemed to look right through Naruto. "You will never stop until you find and kill Sasuke." It was said matter-of-factly, as if Itachi didn't give a damn what happened to his brother.

"What's your point?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"I'm convinced that you will find Sasuke before I do. Or rather, Sasuke will find you. He still considers you his best friend, which means he will more than likely make an attempt on your life in order to gain the Mangenkyou then proceed to hunt me down." Itachi strode over to one of the stone etchings along the walls of the sanctum. "To make it simple, Naruto-kun, I want to use you."

Itachi ran one hand over the engraved kanji. "I'm going to use you as a lure to bring out my brother. Then, when he does make an attempt on your life, I will incapacitate both of you then bring Sasuke back."

Naruto had to restrain himself from lunging at the other shinobi. The guy had a pair of big ones, that was for sure. He was blatantly telling the blonde that he was going to manipulate him, then disable him, all months, or maybe even years before it actually happened.

"Why?" Naruto asked. Itachi turned around, one slim eyebrow slightly raised. "Why are you going to such lengths for Sasuke? Even when you know he's not the man either of us remember and loved?"

"Because he's my brother," Itachi answered. "No matter how much you claim that Sasuke is the closest thing to a brother you've ever had, no matter how much you bellow that you are a better brother than I ever was, the fact remains that you are _not_ his blood brother. Therefore, it stands to reason that you will never be able to go the same lengths as a family member would."

Naruto spluttered, but could find no response to the fact that Itachi had a point. No matter how close friends got, they were still just that. Friends. It took the love and dedication of a family member to go the extreme lengths that Itachi was willing to go to.

"What did I miss out on?" Naruto wondered aware for the first time of some empty part of him, reserved for the section of his heart that had never known a parent's love. It was only when Itachi's red eyes focused on him that the blond realized he'd spoken aloud.

"A fair deal," Itachi said. There was a note of surprising wistfulness in his voice. "Having a family is the best feeling in the world. Nothing compares to having your mother cook you a meal after a hard and long mission or have your father ruffle your hair in approval at some note of progress."

For a moment, the hostility between the two dissolved and they were simply two shinobi without parents. Finally, Naruto stated the thing that had plagued him the most over the years. "I wish I knew who my parents were."

"You don't know?" Itachi asked, surprised. Naruto shook his head. "Well then. I suppose it's not my place to tell you who they were."

"You knew them!?" Naruto demanded. Itachi nodded.

"Of course. Not many people would associate you with them, but they were two of the most admired shinobi in the village." Itachi turned. "Now that's enough. I've already told you my plan and I'm going to follow through with it, with or without your consent."

"Sounds like I have no choice in the matter," The blond grumbled.

"Indeed. However, since you are an integral part of my plan, I cannot have you dying prematurely. Therefore, I shall keep an eye on you and, should you find yourself in over your head, as you undoubtedly will, then I'll come and lend a hand."

Naruto's jaw dropped as he stared at Itachi like he was nuts. "What about Akatsuki? Speaking of that, where's shark breath?"

Itachi smirked. "Waiting for me outside the village. I told him to stay put since Konoha has changed their defenses since my last visit and the only breach I could find was big enough for one person only. As for Akatsuki, they are busy with other endeavors. Kisame and I are the only two assigned exclusively to your capture. I will do my job to keep them off your trail, but you must do your part as well, Naruto-kun."

With that, he touched a small panel in the wall behind him, a hidden panel sliding open with only a slight whisper of stone grinding on stone. Itachi didn't spare Naruto another glance as he stepped through, the passage so narrow that his red and black cloak whispered off the walls, then vanished into the pervading darkness.

The panel slid shut and Itachi was gone.

"Well hell!" Naruto shouted, his voice echoing off the stone chambers. "What do I do now!?"

Neither the stone chamber nor the demon that Naruto carried had any answer.

* * *

"I said no!" Tsunade thundered, shooting to her feet. It was noon, about two days after Naruto's little conversation with Uchiha Itachi. Now the Godaime was in her office along with Jiraiya and the two, true to form, were in a shouting match worthy of two Sannin. Ordinarily, this was no cause for concern, but today's topic was rather serious.

"Why not!?" Jiraiya bellowed, leaning across the Hokage's desk to get right up in her face. "It's his birthright after all!"

"I said _no!_" Tsunade repeated. "Can you imagine what it would do to him!? How would Naruto feel if he found out that the father he never knew was the Yondaime Hokage? How would he feel if he knew that his father, his own _father_, sealed the Kyuubi no Yoko within him before he was even old enough to know Namikaze's face!?"

Jiraiya turned redder, as if drunk. "It was what he wanted! Minato never wanted Naruto to grow up ignorant! Maybe, you old bat, you should stop thinking about what you want and start thinking about Naruto!"

"I _am _thinking about Naruto you old shit! Goddammit Jiraiya! He's _happy _not knowing! He's got friends now! He's got you and me! He doesn't _need _to know! Don't you think that Minato wouldn't want his child to be ashamed of what he has to live with!?" They were both using the nickname that Jiraiya had picked out one night while he was half sloshed on some stronger-than-normal sake. Namikaze Arashi, more commonly known as Namikaze Minato, had tried to ward off the nickname, but he'd been too late and it had stuck. Before long, it was as if his true name was Minato.

"He's an adult now! Can't you see that Tsunade!? Naruto's not some snot-nosed kid anymore! He turns twenty-one tomorrow for Kami's sake! He's lived on his own for five years! He's led a mission as a jounin. He's done solo missions. Actually, fuck all of that! He killed goddamn _Orochimaru!_ Orochi-fucking-maru! One of the Sannin and someone even you and I struggled with!"

"I'm saying no, Jiraiya, and that's final!" Tsunade sat down with a huff, the plush leather hissing as air escaped from the over-stuffed interior. The Toad Hermit was not about to let the subject drop.

"He's my godkid!"

"Oh yes," Tsunade sneered up at him. "A fine job you did. Where the hell were you when he needed you most, huh? Out visiting whores and getting sloshed no doubt."

Jiraiya's gaze turned frigid and he drew himself up to his full, impressive, height, his face a mask of frosty fury, anger rolling off him in waves. If one witnessed the display, they would see why a seemingly useless perverted old man was one of the Sannin. "Like you can talk," he snarled. He was busy repressing his killing intent and an overwhelming desire to smash his fist into his old comrade's face. "You were just as bad as I was. And if I remember correctly, I was more than willing to come back to the village when you were content to drink and squander the Shodai's inheritance."

Tsunade's face suddenly matched Jiraiya's in frigidness. She shot up again and seized Jiraiya's olive-drab gi top. "Care to repeat that?" She growled. The other Sannin repeated his earlier comment. Tsunade's fist buried itself in his teeth before Jiraiya was even able to complete the sentence.

He flew backwards, bounced once off the floor, then smashed through the door to the inner sanctum. He pivoted in mid-air then skidded down the hall as the ANBU guards dove for cover as the door suddenly exploded next to them.

"J-Jiraiya-sama?" One spluttered as the Sannin glared back into the Hokage's office. "What's going on?" His words seemed to bring the sage out of his fury and his fingers unwound themselves from each other. They'd been halfway through the seal sequence for Kuchiyose no Jutsu and Jiraiya had never realized it.

The old man huffed, standing up from the crouch he'd been in, dusting his haori off. He ignored the ANBU. "Fine, Tsunade," he said, "but you can explain to Kushina why you never told him!" At that, the Godaime seemed to deflate and Jiraiya caught her mouth the name of Uzumaki Kushina, Naruto's mother. Kushina and Tsunade had been fairly good friends before the fiery Uzumaki had to leave, leaving her husband to die and her son to be branded as a demon. Jiraiya hadn't kept tabs on the last member of Naruto's family so he didn't know if she was even still alive.

Jiraiya drove home his point. "Even if you don't want Naruto to know about his parents, don't you think she would?"

Tsunade scowled and looked away. For a tense minute, Jiraiya didn't think she'd relent, but she finally slumped, the steam leaking out of her. "Fine. But since you seem to think you're his godfather, you can tell him."

"My pleasure," Jiraiya answered snidely. "Write up a training journey. I'm taking him to where Uzu used to be." He spun and marched away before Tsunade could even protest.

* * *

The following two days saw a huge upsurge in mood among the citizens of Konoha. One of the happiest, and saddest, days of their village's history was approaching. For the next three days, they would have a continuous festival, to celebrate the sealing of Kyuubi and one day to mourn the loss of the Yondaime Hokage. Coinciding with the upsurge in general morale, there was a distinct downturn in Naruto's mood, despite the fact that his birthday was approaching.

Naruto hated his birthday. Every year, for as long as he could remember, it had been nothing but a week of sorrow and suffering for him. Angry mobs that would pelt him with rocks and shards of glass and broken beer bottles. Vandals would break into his apartment and trash the meager lodgings, sometimes stealing worthless things like his entire stack of ramen just to spite him. But the worst day was the day of mourning for the Yondaime.

On that day, the villagers would turn out in force to hunt him down. At first, Naruto would always get caught and beaten to within an inch of consciousness, but as he grew older, he was able to evade the mobs, which only made the beating all the more fierce the year afterward. Once Naruto started pulling pranks on the bastards who chased him, sometimes putting _them _in the hospital, they started to give up, hunting him in less numbers or only beating him half-heartedly, always afraid that he let himself be caught to lower their guard then get slammed some super prank.

This year, Naruto expected a record turnout to what he'd started calling "Naruto Hunting". The reason was simple. Though it had been awhile since he'd used the full nine tails on Rokubi during the Chuunin Exams, the villagers had long memories and despite getting out of the village for almost a month, it really had only slightly dampened the villager's renewed hatred.

'**Let me deal with them,' **Kyuubi muttered. **'I'll show them a real demon.'** Naruto smiled a little but otherwise didn't say anything. When night fell, the sky was lit up with a huge display of fireworks, set off at exactly at the hour that Kyuubi had been vanquished. Naruto had come to associate the fireworks as his coming of age when he was younger and he had also come to associate it with the opening of Naruto Hunting.

So the blond jounin went to one of the few sanctuaries he knew in the village.

The head of the Yondaime Hokage.

It gave him an unprecedented view of the village square and the angry mob that thronged within it. Naruto could even hear the unruly mob shouting drunken oaths of vengeance on the Kyuubi from the top of the towering monument. Knowing he had a long wait ahead of him, Naruto turned his thoughts to the parents he never knew and Uchiha Itachi's cryptic allusions to them. About how they were some of the most revered shinobi in the village.

"Who were you?" Naruto asked to the slightly chilly air. "Would you be proud of me? Or angry? Would you try to kill me? Or would you support and comfort me?"

"Y'know, talking to yourself is a sign of insanity," said a familiar voice from behind him. Naruto glanced over his shoulder and saw Jiraiya standing behind him with a bottle of sake and a ready grin. "It's your birthday you know!"

Naruto shrugged. "I've never had a reason to celebrate. For twelve years I spent my birthdays running from mobs that tried to kill me." Jiraiya sat down beside Naruto, looking the blond jounin over. Naruto didn't have his headband or his vest on, so his long blond hair hung free just above his eyes. It was remarkable just how much he resembled his father right then. Same drumming of the fingers, same serious blue eyes, same serious voice. It almost made Jiraiya shiver.

Jiraiya held out his sake bottle. "Here. Happy Early Birthday." Naruto smiled as he took the bottle and took a gulp. He flinched at the taste, but swallowed it down, trying to ignore the protests of his innards.

"What're you here for, Ero-sennin?"

Jiraiya feigned a pained heart. "You don't see your favorite sensei for a few years then ask why I want? Oh the shame of it all! I thought I taught you respect!" Naruto laughed and the resemblance to the Yondaime was shattered as Naruto's characteristic fox grin came over him.

"You taught me respect for the knothole in a woman's bath but not much else!" Jiraiya smacked him over the head. "Ow! Hey! You old fart!"

"You be quiet!" Jiraiya yelled back. "How could you have such an awesome sensei like me and say that you didn't learn anything!" The two glared at each other, faces inches apart, before both grinned and sat back, content, for the moment to watch the fireworks burst over the village. Watching the ornate explosions of light and color made Naruto wonder about his parents. Suddenly, something occurred to him that hadn't before.

"Hey, Ero-sennin."

"Huh?" The sage asked around a mouthful of sake. He gulped it down, wincing as it proved too much for his throat to handle at once, then regarded his apprentice. "What's up?"

Naruto watched him out of the corner of his eye. "Did you know my parents?"

Jiraiya's face darkened. He'd come to tell Naruto just that, but had no idea that the blond had been contemplating the people Jiraiya had come to tell him about. If Jiraiya had had any doubt about telling Naruto, the blonde's question cleared it right up. If he was ready to ask, he was ready to know. "Your parents?" The old man smiled wistfully. "Yeah. I knew them." Naruto was suddenly all ears.

"What were they like?"

Jiraiya grinned. He wanted to tell Naruto right then, but he knew that there was one person that could do it even better than he could. "They were the most loving parents you could ever ask for. Your mother was one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen and your father was one of the best shinobi in the village."

"Are they still alive?" Naruto asked, his voice betraying his fear of the answer.

Jiraiya hesitated a second. "Your father died just after you were born, the night the Kyuubi attacked…but…your mother…Naruto, your mother is still alive."

Naruto was stunned.

* * *

Well that's that. As far as I know, the manga has never explicity said that Uzumaki Kushina is dead, so I figured for this story she could be alive. Besides, it's AU, so what does it matter about the manga? Speaking of which oh DAMN is it gettin good. If you haven't read Naruto in awhile, I advise you to do it. Why you ask? Simple. Akatsuki and fox problems. Well, whatever, enough of my rambling. This chapter lacked action, but it's mostly to set up for what I call the Parents Arc.

See you next time,

WingedFreedom622


	26. To Whirlpool!

Disclaimer: If I haven't been clear before, I don't own Naruto

* * *

"Say that again?"

"Your mom's still alive. Or at least she was the last time I checked."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "When was that?"

The sage scratched the base of his spiky ponytail. "Ah must've been…just before we left Konoha the first time."

"Why'd she leave!?" Naruto demanded, which was the first question Jiraiya expected. Hell, if _he'd _been a Jinchuuriki and he'd found that his mom was still alive, he would've asked the same thing.

Jiraiya scowled at Naruto's question. "Couldn't tell you."

"Couldn't?" Naruto repeated angrily, "Or won't?" Jiraiya, worn out from his argument with Tsunade earlier in the day, deflated before Naruto's eyes, showing every year of his age in only a few seconds.

"Couldn't. Naruto, she left without warning. I don't know why. Trust me, I wasn't happy about it either."

"They knew you?" Naruto asked, forgetting his anger for a moment. Jiraiya had known his parents? That meant that Jiraiya had known him before he'd even been in the world.

"They were…good friends of mine," Jiraiya answered, smiling as he remembered his greatest student and his wife…or at least his very intimate girlfriend. Jiraiya had been away for some time then when he'd come back, he'd found that Kushina was pregnant. Jiraiya hadn't really cared if Minato and Kushina were married, but his congratulations on Kushina's pregnancy were genuine.

"What were their names?"

"Your mother's name was Uzumaki Kushina. A kunoichi from the Whirlpool country, a small little place on the coast. As for your father…well, we'll let your mother tell you about him."

Naruto scowled, but he was happy that he at least had a name for his mother, even if she had left him when he'd needed a parent the most. What kind of parent just abandoned their kid? Even if they did hate him? Then what Jiraiya had said clicked inside Naruto's head. "Wait, we'll let her tell me?"

Jiraiya grinned. "Pack your bags kid. We're going to Whirlpool."

That night, Naruto packed with a strange mechanical feeling. His mind was spinning, a torrent of emotion. He felt anger, resentment, shock, longing, love, desperation, suspicion, and a host of other feelings, all spinning inside him like a tornado. Mostly, though, he felt anger and resentment. He knew that he probably shouldn't be feeling that way about his mother, now that he finally knew that he had one, but he couldn't help but feel abandoned.

"Going somewhere?"

Naruto jumped and spun to the window, where a shadowy figure was crouching like a tiger in the night. A kunai was embedded in the windowsill next to the figure's head, the knife having flown from Naruto's fingers on habit alone. Then he noticed the gravity-defying hair and the small rectangle of black in the figure's hand that was clearly a book.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

The figure closed his book and hopped through the open window, thudding lightly on the floor, before straightening and stepping into the small pool of light thrown on the floor by Naruto's desk lamp. He didn't feel like turning on the main lamp since the darkness seemed to fit his mood more. It was indeed the masked jounin that had served as Naruto's friend and sensei for a time before Naruto became a jounin.

"Kakashi-sensei," The jounin repeated, turning the phrase over in his mouth, "I don't know about that. I never did much teaching did I?" Naruto's mouth quirked up a little as he turned back to stuffing clothes, shinobi tools, and other assorted items into a backpack.

"You taught us a lot, Kakashi-sensei."

"No. I didn't. If I had, then Sasuke would still be here." Naruto opened to his mouth to disagree, to say that the bastard would've left anyway, but something stopped him. Maybe it was the recent revelation of his mother or maybe it was Itachi's unshakable conviction that Sasuke could redeem himself, but something made him murmur a noncommittal "Maybe."

"But, onto another topic. I heard that you found out about Kushina-san."

The stiffening in Naruto's shoulders was the only hint Kakashi got that the blond jounin had heard him. It was all the former ANBU needed though. "So. Jiraiya wasn't kidding when he said he told you. As I understand it, Tsunade-sama was very upset with that idea."

"You know Ero-sennin right?"

"Through my sensei the Yondaime, yes," Kakashi answered as he bit back a snort at the nickname that Naruto had given his sensei. The Sharingan-wielding man felt fortunate that he'd escaped a similar fate.

"So you knew my parents?"

"I did. Kushina-san was a lot like you. She was impulsive, loud, tried for the best in everything she did, and never gave up no matter how bleak the circumstances looked. And she would throw the world away to save her friends. Or save her son."

"What about my dad?"

Kakashi hesitated just a split second. "You look just like him."

"And? A name? What he did as a shinobi, what he was like, anything?"

Kakashi sighed and sat on the end of Naruto's bed. "Naruto, sit down." The blond jounin did. "Understand, Naruto, it's not that I don't want to tell you about your father, but it's that I _can't_. And it's not that Jiraiya doesn't want to tell you either. However, we know that it's not our place."

"But _why_?" Naruto asked, hand clenching on the covers of his bed.

"We don't know how you would react."

"Huh?"

"Think of how you resent your mother right now. Your father…did something that we think would make you hate him. Not just have a strong disdain. We, and by that I mean me, the Sandaime, Jiraiya, Kushina-san and your father's will, decided that we would wait until you knew about Kyuubi, had come to terms with the demon being inside you, and were old enough to understand his side of the story."

"So what do I do?" Naruto asked, losing the angry stance and looking more lost than Kakashi had ever seen him. A nagging feeling told Naruto that Kakashi had all but told him who his father was, but he couldn't place it.

"You go to your mom. She has the answer. Your father left a legacy for you, with the express orders that it be left in Kushina-san's care no matter what happens, and that she be the one to tell you when the time was right." The jounin shrugged. "Though I don't think even he could predict your mother leaving the village."

"Why did she leave?"

"I don't know. She left without warning and as far as I know, not telling anyone the reason. I don't think it was because of you. Not for a second should you believe that, and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise either. Kushina-san and your father both loved you more than life itself."

"So why, if they loved me so much, did my dad die and my mother abandon me when I needed her the most? Dad probably hated me and committed suicide because he couldn't stand the shame."

"Your father was a hero," Kakashi snapped, suddenly angry. Naruto's remark had, unwittingly, hit two very sensitive points for the jounin. "Just like you are."

"Huh?"

"You contain one of the greatest terrors in the world inside you," Kakashi explained. His mask shifted and Naruto knew that his mentor and friend was grinning. "And I can't think of a worthier candidate." Kakashi slapped his thighs and stood up. "Come on. I came to get you for something."

"What?"

Kakashi's eye curled. Naruto saw that even in the darkness. "You'll see." With that he leapt out the window, bounding away over the darkened rooftops. Naruto sighed then followed after him, knowing that he had no choice. If he didn't Kakashi would find a way to drag him to wherever the jounin's mysterious destination was.

Kakashi led him into the training areas that ringed Konoha and, within seconds, Naruto recognized the route to Team Seven's favorite training ground.

'What the hell does Kakashi-sensei want with a sparring match this late at night? Doesn't he know that I have to leave with Ero-sennin tomorrow?' They rounded a corner and light suddenly flooded Naruto's face, a huge shockwave blowing him backwards. When Naruto got his wits about him, he realized that the shockwave wasn't from an explosion but from a massive shout. Another second and he realized what the shout was.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY NARUTO!"

"Wha…What is all this!?" Naruto spluttered. In front of him was the biggest picnic cloth he'd ever seen and on it was enough food to feed an army. But that was secondary compared to everyone around it. All his friends, minus Gaara and his siblings, were there, from Ayame and her father, the owner of Ichiraku, to Tsunade and Shizune.

Tenten stepped forward. "Well," she said, "we've always heard that you had a tough time as a kid and you've been down the past few days so we figured that we would do something to cheer you up."

Naruto stood stunned for a second, then a grin, a real patented fox-grin, split his face and the part got started. As they sat down for Ichiraku ramen, cake, and other delicious morsels, Naruto figured that, no matter what the next day would bring, no matter his mother's reasons for leaving, he could handle it. After all, with all his friends around him, how could he feel sorry for himself?

* * *

The next day dawned bright and clear. Naruto managed to slip through the throng in the city without drawing much attention to himself. Once or twice he was spotted and forced to run from a drunken band of chuunin, though he lost them just as fast as he was found. He was only a few minutes late when he arrived at the gate. Jiraiya was already there, waiting for him.

"You're late!" He shouted. "You're gonna end up like Kakashi if you keep this up!"

"Oh put a sock in it," Naruto answered, stifling a yawn. They had been up late into the night, celebrating Naruto's birthday and he knew for a fact that Jiraiya had to be hurting right now. "How's the hangover?"

Jiraiya muttered something that sounded very much like "Damn brat," but otherwise didn't answer. Naruto grinned when he saw the sage put a hand up to his head to try and ward off the throbbing that was going on just behind his eyes.

"Well, we gonna go?" Jiraiya asked, giving his temples a final soothing rub.

There were butterflies in Naruto's stomach when he answered with an affirmative. With that, the two stepped off, strolling leisurely through the gate and into the forest. Naruto felt naked without his cloak. He'd left it behind because he hadn't had time to patch it up and get it shipshape again. It was still a tattered mess from the last battle it had been through. Though he still felt some resentment for the mother he had yet to meet, she was still his mom right? What would she think or say if he showed up on her doorstep looking like her worst idea of a Konoha-nin? It probably wouldn't be a nice first impression.

As they headed east, the scenery changed from the majestic redwoods of Fire Country to the rolling, undulating, grassy knolls of Grass country, to the windy hot high deserts that existed between Wind Country and its neighbors. After two solid weeks of nonstop traveling, the scenery greened up again, followed closely by a scent that Naruto had smelled only once before, but would never forget.

It was the salty scent of the sea.

"Almost there," Jiraiya muttered. Naruto bit his lip. He had no idea how he should feel about the situation. The pensive look in his eyes said that Jiraiya wasn't looking forward to it either.

"Hey, Ero-sennin."

"What?" Jiraiya answered distractedly.

"Why do you look almost as nervous as I feel about meeting my mom? She's your friend isn't she?"

Jiraiya frowned. "We…haven't been on the best of terms since she left. I didn't agree with a mom just abandoning her son when she needed him the most."

"What'd she tell you?"

"Nothing. Like we told you, she left without telling anyone why. When I got back, found you downtrodden and abused by the villagers, and found that she was nowhere around, either inside the village or immediately outside of it…well, lets just say that the next enemy shinobi I ran into didn't exactly get off easy." Jiraiya's voice went from apprehensive to almost livid as he spoke.

Naruto was taken aback by the anger on his behalf. "Why are you so worked up about this?" He asked.

Jiraiya seemed to deflate. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

The old man looked him straight in the eye and Naruto was surprised to see a hint of tears glistening in the Sannin's eyes. "I…I wasn't there when you needed me."

Naruto's brows knitted together in puzzlement. "What do you mean?"

"Naruto, I don't want you to hate me for this, but…" The other shinobi hesitated, as if he couldn't get the words out.

"But what?"

"I'm…That first day in the spring, when you caught me doing research…"

"Peeping," Naruto said with a fake cough.

He was ignored. "Well, the truth is, that wasn't the first time I'd seen you. I knew about you before you were even born and…your mom and dad decided to use a name they'd found in one of my earlier books. So…you could say that I'm your godfather."

Naruto stared at Jiraiya with such intensity that the older man felt that he was about to burst into flames. Naruto's mouth opened, as if in shock, and Jiraiya braced himself for the tirade that was sure to come.

"WHAT!!? YOU MEAN I'M NAMED AFTER ONE OF YOUR TRASHY NOVELS!?" Jiraiya blinked, but before he could say anything, Naruto was trying to pull out his blond hair. "I CAN'T BELIVE THIS! MY PARENTS MUST'VE BEEN ON CRACK THAT NIGHT!" He sat on his haunches, hugging himself with one arm as he drew circles in the dirt. "How am I going to be able to face everyone in Konoha again?"

Meanwhile, a vein had started twitching in Jiraiya's temple. "OH WOULD YOU GET OVER IT!?" He bellowed, cracking Naruto over the head with one fist.

"OW! HEY! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" Naruto snapped out of it, getting inches from his mentor's face. "You old codger!" Jiraiya's teeth ground, the vein pulsing worse than ever, but, unexpectedly, he smiled, running a hand through his snow-white hair as he started laughing uproariously.

Naruto blinked, his anger vanishing before being replaced by puzzlement. "Uh…Ero-sennin?"

Jiraiya finally got himself under control. "You really are just like your mother," he answered. "And I don't mean that in a bad way. I don't know if anyone's told you, but you look just like your father and act like your mother."

"It still doesn't change the fact that I'm named after a pervert," Naruto grumbled.

"You weren't listening, were you?" Jiraiya asked, as he rummaged inside his gi, before pulling out a small paper-wrapped rectangle. "I said it was one of my earlier works. It's an adventure novel, not an erotic novel." Naruto reached warily for the small package. As he unwrapped it, Jiraiya smiled. "I think the only people who liked it were you parents. They loved the main character, how he never gave up, how he always kept pushing forward, how he never abandoned his friends." The old man smiled. "Sound familiar?"

"A little," Naruto muttered, smiling. He looked at the front cover, doing a double-take when he saw the picture. It could've been Naruto himself, the likeness was so uncanny. The title was 'The Tale of the Gutsy Ninja'. The man flipped through a few pages, eyes catching words like 'abandon' 'Nindo' and lastly, his own name, 'Naruto'.

"You can read that if you want. I've got a few hundred copies just sitting around in cold storage somewhere." Naruto didn't seem to hear him but finally he nodded and pocketed the book.

"Thanks."

They stood in awkward silence for a few seconds, but Jiraiya resumed his journey towards the Whirlpool country.

* * *

It was another three days before they arrived at the boundary of what used to be the Whirlpool country. Naruto inhaled when he saw it. It was a beautiful country, a rich and luscious forest that shone like emerald. Off to the left was a distant mountain range, off to the east, the forest kept going. Straight ahead was the sea, the sapphire expanse glistening gently in the dying afternoon light. Naruto could just make out the dark streak of a flood plain and the yellow-white streaks of beaches.

"Welcome to Whirlpool," Jiraiya said with a half-grin. "This is the best place for a lot of things. They have the best pearls, the best sea-food, best beaches, and," here he chuckled his perverted laugh, "the best women at those beaches."

"How big's the country?" Naruto asked, trying to take in the whole majestic scene.

"It's not a country. At least not anymore. One of the big five countries is off to the north, towards that mountain range. Just after the Kyuubi leveled the village, they annexed the country, since they'd had their eyes on Whirlpool for a while, but couldn't do anything about it since Konoha was really tight with them. Ever since, while the rest of the world recognizes the annexation, Konoha refuses to."

"Did they have a shinobi village?" Naruto asked.

"Sure. Your mom was a part of it, but it wasn't a village like ours, which could be a country in its own right. This was more of a collection of shinobi that happened to be fighting under the same banner, like a highly-trained and skilled militia. They were experts in jutsu that boosted their numbers like the Kage Bunshin, and they were fantastic at guerrilla tactics. Still, one of the minor villages can't fight against one of the Big Five without help." He started down the trail, which sat at the top of a hill, towards the forest. "Now come on. We gotta get to your mom."

The butterflies in Naruto's stomach returned with even more force. He was standing at a crossroads. After he came back from this, he knew he would never be the same again. For better or worse, this trip would change him in an irreparable way.

His foot slid forward and he began that change as he walked down the path.

* * *

Night had fallen when they reached the only major city in Uzu, and even then, it was only about two-thirds the size of Konoha, but it was just as busy, if not busier. Naruto and his sensei were hard pressed to push through the crowd that lined the street they were on and every other street that they'd been on before that.

"Whirlpool is famous for its beaches and its nightlife!" Jiraiya hollered over the racket of the jabbering crowd and the raucous music coming from the open doors of the taverns and pubs that seemed to crop up every few blocks. "Tourism is the big thing here!"

"I noticed!" Naruto looked around but didn't see anything that looked even remotely like a house where a single woman, or even a small clan, could live. "Where are we going?" He had to shout to be heard over the din. "It better not be a brothel or I'll kick your old and wrinkled ass!"

"As if you could!" Jiraiya called back. "It'll take you another few years before you can beat me without that damn fox!" He laughed arrogantly at the sullen look on Naruto's face.

They wound through the crowd, taking streets, alleys, and an assortment of other passages to get through the town. Naruto was disoriented by the crush of people, the hustle and bustle of the city, and the shouting of both tourists and vendors hawking their wares. He'd long lost any sense of direction and it seemed to him that they were just going in circles.

'**Dammit it's too noisy!'** the Kyuubi whimpered in the back of Naruto's mind. The blond felt a twinge of sympathy for his tenant. The fox's hearing was hundreds of times better than Naruto's and it was only because he was a fox. It had nothing to do with the fact that the kitsune was a demon.

Miraculously, after what seemed like an eternity, the crowd began to thin, the people growing more and more scarce with every step. Naruto blinked. The crush of people was suddenly behind them and the buildings were suddenly farther apart. Yards began to blossom, the grass scraggly at first, but quickly growing more and more manicured the closer to the outskirts the two shinobi got. Finally there were a few mansions on the barest edge of the city.

Here it was silent. There were crickets chirping in the bushes that sat along the outside of a red-trimmed tan wall with an ornate gate set into the one side, the side Jiraiya and Naruto stood at now. Trees, fruit trees by the look of them, were at each corner of the square complex and flanking either gate. It seemed foolish for a shinobi's home to have that kind of foliage but it also offered cover to potential defenders as well as means for potential attackers to scale the walls.

The compound itself wasn't that big, only a fraction of the grand, sprawling, districts that large clans like the Hyuuga and, to a slightly lesser extent, the Uchiha, enjoyed within Konoha. Nor was it the small houses like the Nara and Yamanaka had. The compound was solidly in the middle.

"Is this it?" Naruto asked, his voice, to his surprise, faint and slightly shaky.

"Yeah," Jiraiya answered, voice soft, as if he didn't want to disturb the tranquility that sat over the place. "This is the Uzumaki mansion. Your mom's in there. Along with your maternal extended family." The notion of an extended family was too much for Naruto's legs. They gave out beneath him and he sat down. Hard. "You alright?"

The blond opened his mouth to reply yes but the word got lost somewhere between his brain and his mouth. What came out instead was, "I don't know."

"Want to come back in the morning?" Jiraiya's voice was soft, kindly, something Naruto hardly ever heard out of the old man. Naruto nodded. The sage nodded in return.

"Alright. We'll come back tomorrow." They went back into the city, but after scouring the entire town, found all the hotels packed to bursting. Finally the two shinobi called it quits and headed a ways outside the city to set up camp and rough it for the night.

They set up camp, spread out sleeping bags, lit a fire, then played rock paper scissors to determine who would be on watch for the first few hours. Naruto lost, so while Jiraiya's snores began to pervade the small camp, Naruto found himself staring outward from the fire, ears and senses pricked for the slightest disturbance. Though he projected the image of a competent watch, his mind and heart were everywhere but where they were supposed to be.

As they had ever since Naruto had found out he still had a mother, his thoughts and emotions returned to her and began to swirl chaotically, once again bouncing from love to livid rage with no predictable pattern. The swirl of feelings finally settled on neutrality. She was his mother. He would give her the benefit of the doubt. Which way he swung would depend on…

'**Brat!'**

The fox's thundering voice jolted Naruto from his thoughts, just in time for him to see the monofilament wire drape around his neck, as thin and gentle as a spider's web, a loop that would take his head off if it tightened.

Naruto felt a slight tug in the wire.

"Ero…!"

The wire slashed through his neck and Naruto's head popped off his shoulders, bounced off the ground and rolled to a stop against Jiraiya's shoulder. The sage flinched at the call and the bump on his shoulder. His eyes opened.

The flat blue eyes of his student's head stared back at him.

"What the…!" he shouted, flinging away his sleeping back, making a huge scuffle that seemed as chaotic as it was purposeful. In his frantic scramble, the sage kicked out the fire, plunging the small grove where he and his student were camping into darkness.

A shadowy figure emerged from the bushes and stopped just inside the small clearing.

"All your valuables grandpa," the figure said roughly. "If you give it up nicely then we won't kill you."

"We?" Jiraiya started to repeat right before he found himself surrounded by a whole host of men. The sage's mind started running in overtime, quickly processing the number of men, how they moved, how they acted, anything to give him a clue to who they were.

In seconds, the Sannin had his answers.

There were six men, not including the one who'd strode so brazenly into the camp, they had moved with the utmost stealth and precision, surrounding Jiraiya almost before he was able to figure out where they were, but _not_ before he'd sensed them. So, they were rogue shinobi, not bandits, but they weren't anything special. Chuunin at best, jounin at worst, a moderate challenge for someone like Jiraiya. Piece of cake for him and Naruto, who he could just barely sense creeping around in the background.

"Yes," the leader said confidently. "We, the Knights of Whirlpool!"

"Knights of Whirlpool?" Jiraiya repeated, playing the clueless senile old man, though he recognized the name of the band. They were the self-proclaimed rebels in Uzu, mostly former members of the Uzu shinobi corps that, unable to accept their country's annexation, had decided to fight against their conquerors. For years they had held on, really nothing more than an annoyance for the current government, but from what the Sannin had heard, they'd gotten rather bold in the last few months.

"Yes, the liberators of Whirlpool! The time is coming when we will throw off our oppressors and regain our rightful lands! Now. Hand over all your valuables, grandpa, before we kill you like we killed your grandson."

"Killed my grandson?" Jiraiya repeated, pretending to notice the head for the first time. Without a word, he pulled out his checkbook and held it out, making his hand shake to feign terror. The leader grinned as he reached for the book.

He never noticed a dark shape swoop from the bushes, slash the throat of the man behind him, then dart back into the shadows. The victim crumpled to the ground without a noise. Jiraiya figured that the man didn't even know he'd been killed when he'd died.

The leader's palm met Jiraiya's. In a blur of motion, Jiraiya seized the man's wrist with that hand and jerked him off balance, the spare hand coming up, a ball of compressed chakra, spinning like a hand held hurricane, on his palm.

"**Rasengan!**"

The man shouted wordlessly as his stomach was ripped and twisted by the drill-like effects of the Yondaime's signature jutsu. A burst of wind almost knocked the shinobi away, unbalancing the rest. Unnoticed by all except Jiraiya, Naruto again dashed from the shadows, this time felling three of the shinobi in the chaos of the Rasengan's aftermath.

"What the hell!?" The remaining two shinobi gasped as they noticed that they were the only ones left. "Who the hell are you old man!?"

"Oh no one much," Jiraiya answered. "Just an author doing some research." The two men backed up, quivering, then dashed into the bushes, making a tremendous racket that even an Academy student would have no trouble following.

Naruto emerged from the shadows, a blood-soaked kunai in his hand. His eyes shone with a serious intensity that Jiraiya had never seen before. To be honest, after the bright light he was accustomed to, this new Naruto was downright creepy.

"Didn't know you knew the meaning of the word stealth," Jiraiya said with a laugh as the blond wiped his soiled weapon on the clothes of one of the corpses.

"You learn fast when you're a missing-nin," Naruto answered, stowing the weapon in its proper place.

"How'd you get away from the initial attack? You know, the one that should've taken your head off?"

"Kawarimi. I almost didn't make it," The jounin showed Jiraiya the side of his neck, where there was a small cut that had been oozing an insignificant trail of blood. Already the blood was clotted and the cut was just a pink scar. "Too caught up in my own thoughts."

"Hey it happens," Jiraiya answered.

"Who were these guys?"

"Remember how I told you that Whirlpool was annexed?"

"Yeah. So…these guys are rebels or something?"

"You go it. Though, they've never been this bold before. I heard through my connections that they've been getting bolder in the last few months. No one has any idea why." They looked over the silently bleeding corpses. The two finally moved to the leader, who was laying on the ground, gasping and coughing up blood. When Jiraiya rolled him onto his stomach with his foot, a grisly sight revealed itself.

The man's back had been blown out, the fresh blood pooling underneath him, sections of the man's spine and the underlying muscle laid open. Naruto whistled. "No matter how many times I see it, I can never get over it," he said, referring to the carnage the Rasengan had wrought.

"I know what you mean," Jiraiya agreed. He rolled the man back over and knelt in front of him, slapping the dying shinobi a few times to keep him conscious. "Hey! Tell me why you attacked us!"

The ninja's head rolled on his shoulders, his muscles no longer able to keep it upright. "We…will….lib…er…ate…Whirl….pool…..New…leader…will…" The man's head dropped to his chest as his breath rattled from his lungs for a final time.

"Gone," Jiraiya muttered, dismayed. He stood, gazing in contemplation down at the corpse. "Still, I don't like this talk of a new leader."

"Why?" Naruto asked. "Whirlpool was Konoha's ally right? So shouldn't we be happy the resistance has someone in charge that can get them to fight?"

"Maybe we should be," Jiraiya muttered, "but there's something I don't like. As long as I've heard about them, the Knights of Whirlpool never ambushed travelers or civilians. Any funding they needed, any weapons they needed, anything they needed actually, they either got from civilian members of the resistance or they just ambushed and killed enemy shinobi patrols." He rubbed his head. "This sudden shift in strategy…I don't like it. Something here smells."

Naruto heard a distant rustling. His hand drifted to his kunai holster. "Maybe we should get out of here. Something tells me we don't want to be caught here."

Jiraiya nodded as they both gathered up their belongings that had gotten tossed around in the confusion then blurred away, the trees whispering as sandal sole met tree bark.

* * *

And the plot thickens! Hope you all aren't too mad about Kushina not showing up this chapter. Don't worry. It'll happen. And on a brighter note, I'm going home for summer break next week! WOOHOO! Of course, that's why I got the chapter up when I did, since I've got finals next week. Damn. At least there's only three of them right? Well, I thinka that's everything and I guess I'll be seeing you next chapter. As always, remember to read and review!

~WingedFreedom622


	27. Kaachan

Disclaimer: Own nothing, yet again.

* * *

Daybreak found the two shinobi in an entirely different setting. They had foregone the cover that the forest had offered and had opted instead to camp right by the road on the cleared plain that sat between the city and the forest. There was almost constant traffic, even late at night, which would probably dissuade any retaliatory attacks, if they could even find the two shinobi. Jiraiya and Naruto, using the paranoia inbred into all shinobi, had diverged, run separate routes, and, in Naruto's case at least, sent Kage Bunshins all over the forest, some wearing a Henge with Jiraiya's likeness, which paired up with Naruto's unchanged clones before scattering from their creator.

When none of the clones were dispelled by force, Naruto dissolved the jutsu.

"We're clean," he said to Jiraiya when he finished sifting through the memories. The sage had nodded, then decided to take first watch. The rest of the night passed without incident and the two shinobi were on the road again fairly early, both eager to beat the rush that was sure to pack the town's streets again. To Naruto's surprise, the streets were fairly empty. It was mostly tourist families doing touristy things, some wearing swimming trunks, which betrayed their intentions to go to the beach. The rest were vendors and shop owners coming to get ready for the coming day.

Thanks to that, they were able to make good time to the Uzumaki estate. When they got there, it was a repeat performance of the night before. Jiraiya and his student stood outside the gate, Jiraiya seemingly at ease with the situation, but for Naruto, it was a different story.

Once again, the swirl of emotions began to roil within him and Naruto suddenly felt rather short on breath and he was perspiring slightly, despite a healthy, salty-smelling, breeze that was coming in off the ocean. Naruto frowned. He could feel his legs shaking, and feel his arms trembling. Was he really that nervous?

Jiraiya smiled in sympathy. He could almost smell how nervous his student was at meeting his mother. It was understandable, though. Naruto hadn't seen her since he'd been born and now he was about to let her into his life once again. On the sage's part, though, he was more angry than nervous. He'd known Kushina, known how much she loved her son, known how she felt about Konoha. For Jiraiya, this journey was as much for Naruto as it was for himself. He had to give himself closure and, to a lesser extent, Minato's memory closure. As the Yondaime's teacher and friend, Jiraiya felt it was his duty to ask the questions that Minato couldn't.

"You alright?" Jiraiya asked Naruto. "We can come back later if you want. Come back when you're more comfortable."

The question seemed to pass in one ear and bleed out the other and Jiraiya was just about to ask Naruto again when the blond shook his head. "No," he answered, voice wavering and faint. "If I don't do it now…" He trailed off and left it open to interpretation.

"You'll never get it done," Jiraiya finished. Naruto nodded, swallowing hard. His hand came up and, to Naruto, it seemed to take an eternity for him to raise his arm that slight distance from his side to the twin gate doors. Finally, he pounded on the door and the hollow booming echoed over the grounds. Soon enough, he heard someone come into the yard.

There was a dull clunk as the bolt on the other side was thrown back. The door began to open, the hinges grinding and creaking as the left door slowly pulled away from its brother. To Naruto, the door opening seemed to take a thousand years, a millennia for him to wonder about what he was going to ask his mom, what she would say, what she looked like, who his father was, who he looked like, and a million other things that all swirled through his head like the eye wall of a hurricane.

The gateman was a middle-aged man with short-cropped black hair and dark brown eyes. He was built rather solidly, something not unexpected of a shinobi, the muscles of his forearms corded and tight. He wore a black turtleneck with long sleeves that stopped halfway down his forearms. Over that, he wore a thin blue vest that seemed to be more of a fashion statement than actually functional, like Naruto's vest, which was currently packed away in his backpack, along with his hirai-ate. Jiraiya had insisted on it even before they'd left Konoha.

"Just so we don't run into any…ah…problems because of a scrap of metal and a vest," he'd said. Naruto had seen his point, stuffing the vest and identifying headband away in his pack.

The doorman blinked, looking from Jiraiya to Naruto and back again. "I'm sorry," he said slowly. "This is private property. The historical mansion is further up the road." He thought they were tourists.

"Oh, so sorry," Jiraiya said with a laugh, "we showed up on your doorstep without warning. But, you see, we had a good reason."

The man cocked an eyebrow and a thrill ran through Naruto as he realized that this unknown stranger was probably some distant relative of his. More than likely a second or third cousin. "Oh? What reason was that?"

Jiraiya's smile remained in place, but his eyes didn't mimic it. They were searching, serious, looking for the slightest out of place reaction. "We're here to see Uzumaki Kushina."

The man blinked, looking surprised, but not unduly so. "Kushina-san? What do you need to see her for?" Naruto and Jiraiya exchanged glances. That response all but confirmed that she was there inside that mansion. Naruto's pulse quickened, pounding hard against his chest like a drummer on three full meals of caffeine.

Jiraiya put a hand on his student's shoulder, both to comfort Naruto and to steady him. It felt like his legs were about to give out underneath him if he didn't have someone to lean on. Naruto felt intensely grateful to his godfather. If it was just him, Naruto knew he would've never been able to get the courage to knock on that door. Give him a horde of enemy shinobi and he'd dive in without a second thought. Put him in front of something like this, and he'd run away screaming. To confront someone that was an integral part of his life yet he'd never seen took a different kind of courage.

"This guy is Uzumaki Naruto."

The man quirked an eyebrow, though neither shinobi could tell if it was in puzzlement or surprise. It was probably a mix of both. "Uzumaki Naruto? I've never heard the name before. What does Kushina-san have to do with him?"

"He's her son."

"What!?" That got a reaction. The man was suddenly bolt upright. "Kushina-san's son!?" Jiraiya nodded. "Impossible. She never had a son, so far as we knew. Who was the father?" The sage leaned in and whispered something in the doorman's ear. Naruto felt annoyance ripple through him. Was Jiraiya really that nervous about revealing who his dad was? The man's eyes got even wider and he stared at Naruto as if he couldn't believe it. "Impossible. Though I can't deny the resemblance. Looks just like him."

"And acts just like Kushina."

The doorman shuddered. "I find that very _very _unsettling. So, that would make you…Jiraiya of the Sannin?" The pervert nodded. The gatekeeper shook his head again. "Kushina-san's son and Jiraiya of the Sannin. Unbelievable." He suddenly blinked again, as if remembering something. "Oh! Where the hell are my manners? I'm Uzumaki Daisuke." He looked Naruto over again. "I guess we're…cousins?" Daisuke sounded like he was just…surprised by the fact as Naruto was.

"I guess," Naruto answered, though his voice gave no doubt about who he was really there to meet.

Daisuke seemed to pick up on it. "I guess I'm really not the person you want to see huh? Well, come on and we'll take you to see your mother." He turned and led the way into the compound. Naruto looked up at his sensei, suddenly uncertain.

Jiraiya nodded, giving him an encouraging smile. Naruto took a deep steadying breath before taking a few steps inside the gate. Naruto was struck by the ordinariness of it all. It was nothing like the rigid coolness of the Hyuuga mansion, or the icy organization of Yoritomo…Ren's place in Lahan. This actually looked like a bright place to live. The grass was short, soft, and well-kempt, the sun warming everything around the compound. Black mulch trimmed the bottoms of the walls, from which sprouted small trees. The center of the compound held a pagoda, which rose high above the walls. The tops of the tiers in the building were crowned by red lacquer tiles. Around the pagoda, in a broken square, were low one-story buildings, probably rooms and such, with more of the same inside the pagoda.

"We're not a large clan," Daisuke explained. "No more than thirty or forty of us. Not so large when compared with larger clans like the Uchiha or the Hyuuga. This pagoda is more for training and a place to hang out more than a clan residence." He shrugged. "Still, it's nice enough I guess."

"Is my mom here?" Naruto asked. If this was just a place to hang out, then Uzumaki Kushina could be anywhere and he would never find her.

"I think she's here," Daisuke answered. "She normally hangs out here all the time, cleaning, taking care of the little ones, that kind of thing, while the rest of us try and keep the rebellion under control."

"The rebellion?" Jiraiya asked. "Is it that bad?"

Daisuke shrugged. "Not really, but since we're really the only big group of shinobi in the city, whenever they attack here, we have to do something."

"They attack here?" Naruto prodded as they passed a section of the broken square of buildings, heading towards the pagoda.

"Sure. The city is packed with people that have a whole bunch of money for their trip. The rebels target them and use it to finance whatever they need to." He frowned. "It didn't used to be like this, but a few months ago, they suddenly got…aggressive. We have no idea what's going on with them because whoever the leader is, he's really good at tracking down spies. All the sleepers we had inside the rebellion have been exposed and killed."

"Any idea who it is?" Jiraiya inquired.

Daisuke shook his head. "None. None of the spies got a description of the leader before they were killed." They were at the pagoda. Daisuke slid the doors aside. Inside was a darkened interior, with a raised stage at the other end of the square room. Pillars rose in two rows on the left and right sides of the pagoda. When Naruto looked up, he realized that the interior was hollow, the floors above had their centers cut out, so, except for the ground floor, each story was a square doughnut.

"Why's it like that?" Naruto asked.

"Why not?" Daisuke asked, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Jiraiya and Naruto blinked, but decided to let it go. They hadn't come to question the architecture of the buildings.

"Daisuke," said a voice. Naruto's heart lurched as looked for the source, thinking it was his mother at first, but then he brought himself down off his high when he realized that it was a male voice. It was an old man, previously unnoticed, who was sitting over by a huge easel on the stage, writing what looked like calligraphy, or maybe it was an ink painting. Naruto couldn't tell in the gloom. "Who's that you've got?"

"Ah, Jiraiya of the Sannin and…Uzumaki Naruto?" Naruto's name was spoken with a question mark, as if Daisuke still wasn't sure of just who Naruto really was.

"One name I recognize," said the old man as he stood. He reminded Jiraiya of Fukasaku, the toad elder that Jiraiya had to use to Sage Mode. He was bald, except for gray hair that clung stubbornly to the back of his head, and only came up to about Jiraiya's armpit. He was swathed in orange robes that kind of resembled Kage robes. His dark, narrow eyes were full of warmth and wisdom, though Jiraiya had seen enough old farts (like himself) over the years to know that there was great power behind those eyes. This old man had probably seen a ton of battles and had the scars to prove it. "I am Uzumaki Odin."

"Odin?" Jiraiya repeated, "Sorry for saying so, but that's an odd name."

Odin laughed, a reedy, creaking noise, but a warm one. It seemed another trait with the Uzumaki that Naruto shared was their warm smiles and love of laughter. "You might say that, but it's the name of some god of wisdom. No idea what culture it comes from, but it's a nice name I think." He walked over to Naruto. Jiraiya was struck by how easily the short man moved. Jiraiya had to work out relentlessly to keep what little mobility he had. To see this short man, who looked like he hadn't worked out in years, moving so easily…well, it made Jiraiya jealous to say the least.

"So," the elder said, "you're an Uzumaki, huh?"

"Ah…yeah," Naruto answered. "I guess my mom's name is Uzumaki Kushina?"

"Kushina-chan?" The old man stroked the scruffy goatee that crowned his chin. "Didn't know she had a kid. Where're you from again?" Odin stopped, thought over his words, then waved it off. "Never mind. If you're traveling with Jiraiya of the Sannin, I think it's pretty clear that you're from Konohagakure." He peered closer at Naruto's face, as if he had a hard time seeing it. "Now that I think on it…you look like the Yondaime Hokage."

"You knew the Yondaime?" Naruto asked, incredulous. He'd always heard glowing stories about the legendary hero, but had never met anyone outside of Konoha who knew him.

"Knew him? Ha! I saw him in action once! Thought we were screwed with the amount of shinobi we were facing, but the Yellow Flash just busted out those fancy kunai of his and the next thing I know, enemy shinobi are falling left right and center and no clue that they were dying." Odin seemed lost in his memories for a second before Daisuke coughed and brought him out of it. "Wha…!? Oh, yeah. Kushina! Dunno if you're her kid or not, but she should be around. Wait here and I'll go and get her."

The wizened old shinobi strode away from the room, vanishing through a side door that Naruto hadn't noticed earlier. Despite himself, he brought a thumbnail to his lip and began chewing on it, a habit he'd never had, which spoke volumes about how nervous he was.

'Just a few minutes,' he told himself, that hurricane of emotion that had been battering his psyche at odd intervals returning with greater than ever force. 'Just a few more minutes and I'll get to see my mom for the first time in twenty one years.' Daisuke seemed to pick up on Naruto's nervousness.

"You've never met Kushina-san before?" he asked. "When she's your mother?"

Naruto frowned, resentment spearing through him for a second. "I know. There was a…problem when I was just a baby and for whatever reason, she left Konoha before I even had a memory of her." Daisuke seemed to know what that problem was, but didn't say anything about it.

"That doesn't sound like Kushina-san," Daisuke replied seriously. "She does a lot of pointless things, but when it comes to her family and friends, she never does anything without a reason." Naruto was spared answering but the sudden sound of footsteps behind the door Odin had vanished through.

"Won't you even tell me who it is!?" A voice said indignantly. "Seriously! You come barging into my room and suddenly tell me that an old acquaintance of mine is here to see me, then suddenly expect me to drop everything I'm doing to go see him?" The voice was talking a mile a minute, rapid-fire chatter Naruto had thought only Sakura and Ino were capable of when they were sharing the latest gossip with each other.

Palms sweaty, his cerulean eyes flickered over the door, then to Jiraiya's face. The sage caught the look and nodded, mouthing "Kushina". The door Odin had vanished through earlier slid open and Odin emerged into the room. Naruto's heart began pounding in his throat.

Time froze as a second foot appeared through the door.

It was followed by a woman's figure, then her face. The woman's face was young-looking, no older than her mid-forties, but she looked younger, her red hair still vibrant, only a few strands of gray visible, her face only betraying a hint of wrinkling, mostly around her mouth and eyes, which told Naruto she smiled and laughed probably as much as he did, though her face right now as a mix of puzzlement and annoyance.

Her red hair stopped just above her hips. She was slender, still picturesque despite her age, her green eyes focused on Odin. She didn't seem to have noticed Jiraiya and Naruto standing there, though the blond jounin knew it was only a matter of time before she spotted them.

"Kushina," Jiraiya murmured. Naruto didn't miss the clenching of the sage's fist. The old man wasn't pleased about something and it didn't take a genius to figure out whom it was he was mad at. Naruto didn't really feel anything. He was too busy being numb at finally seeing his mother's face. He suddenly realized how much he'd longed to see her face, hear her voice, to know that he _had_ a mother. There were days that he just doubted that he'd even had parents.

Odin stopped and nodded in the direction of the two Konoha-nin. Kushina stopped her tirade, so reminiscent of Naruto, and looked over. Time slowed to a crawl as her vivid green eyes, just as startling as Sakura's, panned over Jiraiya. Naruto saw the recognition bloom, saw her mouth his sensei's name, but he never heard the words. Finally her jade gaze swept over him and her eyes went even wider.

She broke away from Odin and began to approach the pair, her eyes roving over Naruto, taking in his flaxen hair, vivid cerulean eyes, and the rest of him. She mouthed another name, her eyes momentarily clouded by confusion, then her eyes found the six whisker marks on his cheeks. She blinked, still confused, stopping only feet from him.

Naruto saw realization dawn on her. There was a funny rushing noise in his ears, but it didn't prevent him from hearing. Time sped back up to normal speed right as Uzumaki Kushina's mouth opened. She, some part of Naruto's mind noted, smelled like a grove of Sakura trees.

"N…N…Naruto?" Kushina stuttered, slowly saying her son's name as if she'd never heard it before, or at least, not addressed to him. She was stunned, the blond could see that right away. She didn't know what to make of this. Her son, whom she hadn't seen in twenty years, had suddenly just popped up on her doorstep with no warning. "Is…is it really you?"

Naruto had mentally composed a thousand different responses for the moment he would meet his mother, ranging from humorous, to sarcastic, to angry. All of them flew right out the window the moment she said his name. In that instant, Kushina went from being nothing more that a question in Naruto's mind to a living, breathing person.

For once in his life, Naruto was at a total and complete loss for words, a real rarity for him. Kushina's eyes glistened with unshed tears, threatening to spill. "Are you really…Naruto?" She asked, almost pleading.

Naruto tried to give her one of his fox-grins, but his face was paralyzed. A sharp elbow from Jiraiya jolted him from his stupor. He struggled for words, but finally decided on something simple. "Hi…Mom." He said finally.

He was suddenly strangled as Kushina lost all control, bawling like a baby as she flung her arms around her son's neck and hugged him tight, crying hysterically, soaking his orange shirt with moisture. Naruto was finally unable to hold himself back and burst into tears himself, hugging his mother to him as they both sank to their knees, sobbing their hearts out. Naruto still had a ton of questions to ask his mom, but for now, they could simply enjoy their reunion.

Odin jerked his head at Daisuke and the two other Uzumaki left Naruto, Kushina, and Jiraiya alone on the ground floor of the pagoda, at least until they were less emotional. This was a private matter and something the other members of the clan didn't need to be intruding on.

Finally, after a timeless time, Kushina and Naruto broke apart and got a good look at each other. They searched each other's faces, staring hungrily, as if they'd never get enough. Kushina was the first to rise, dusting herself off. "Jiraiya," she said finally, acknowledging the sage for the first time.

"Kushina-chan. It's been a while."

Kushina's voice was soft, gentle, and hearing it jarred something in Naruto's memory. He had a sudden flash of a pair of smiles, one like his, the other was cheeky, like it would prank you, but kind and loving at the same time. The smiles were followed by flashes of hair, vivid red, his mom's, and a brilliant flaxen, which could only be his father's. Naruto blinked. Where had that come from?

He stood, drawing his mother's attention back to him.

"Naruto…" she said, looking like she was about to cry again.

"I…I have so much I want to know," Naruto said feebly, still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that this woman was his mother. Not someone else's, not Sakura's mom, not Tenten's, not Sasuke's. This was _his _mother! And that brought up a distinctly unhappy thought that made the warm feeling that had settled in his gut after finally meeting Kushina. "Why?" That broke the dam that held back all the anger and resentment that he'd held against his parents for abandoning him. He'd decided to be neutral. He'd sworn he wouldn't get mad. And Naruto didn't get mad.

Naruto was livid.

"Why!?" He demanded roughly, sharply, his voice challenging.

"Naruto?" Kushina asked, confused. Jiraiya remained silent, reaching into his gi and pulling out a small square of paper with the kanji for Seal written on it.

"Why did you abandon me!?" His voice was only a few steps below shouting. "You and dad both, who ever the hell he was! Do you two know what I've been going through!? Do you know how much hatred I had to put up with!? DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I NEEDED MY PARENTS!?" Naruto's anger was so intense that he felt the youki within him begin to move, the primal nature of the demon chakra intensifying his emotions.

Kushina recoiled as her son's eyes bled from the blue that was so reminiscent of his father the Yondaime, to the cat-like crimson that was associated with Kyuubi. "Naruto…I…Calm down…please!"

"_Calm!?_" Naruto shouted, his whisker marks thickening, blackening. The youki hadn't bubbled out of his skin yet, but he could feel it, burning just below the surface, like a volcano waiting to erupt. He could feel the Kyuubi trying to shove the youki back behind the seal on his stomach, but Naruto was too pissed, his emotions too powerful. The Kyuubi couldn't shove away what Naruto had already drawn on. "You abandon me, don't even help me when I needed someone the most, and then expect me to be _calm!?_"

Naruto's canines sharpened into fangs, a thin haze of red light beginning to crawl over his skin.

"Naruto," Jiraiya said warningly, the hand with the paper seal twitching nervously.

Kushina looked horrified, unable to say anything in the face of her son's sudden rage. "Naruto I…" She seemed about ready to explain, but trailed off. Tears again beaded in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Naruto, I really am."

"That's all you can say?" Naruto demanded, his voice a dangerous purr, eyes flashing, faintly glowing in the gloom. His hand was clenching and unclenching, his fingernails no longer nails, but claws. "TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF LEAVING ME ON MY OWN AND YOU CAN ONLY OFFER ME A FUCKING _APOLOGY!?!_"

A hot wind swept the room, kicking up the dust that sat in the corners, youki finally bursting through Naruto's skin, shrouding him in the Kyuubi's Cloak, two tails waving in the scalding breeze. "For years I've wondered," Naruto growled, his voice low and slightly bass, "who my parents were. I always believed that there was a slight chance that, despite having the fox inside me, you would've loved me all the same. To find that you abandoned me, left the village, and have been living here the entire time…" Naruto took a deep breath to steady himself, but despite his trying to calm down, he ended up shouting again. "IT LOOKS LIKE I WAS WRONG!! I DON'T CARE ANYMORE! I DON'T CARE WHO MY FATHER IS ANYMORE! ERO-SENNIN AND BAA-CHAN ARE MY MOM AND DAD! I HAVEN'T NEEDED YOU TILL NOW AND I STILL DON'T!"

Before either Jiraiya or Kushina could react, Naruto whirled and lunged at the flimsy slider doors behind him, crashing straight through the fragile doors, the heat of his youki briefly setting the rice paper aflame as he charged down the gray marble path, leaped the wall, and streaked away over rooftops of the village, heading for the city.

"Naruto!" Kushina called, feeling her heart, which had been hollow for so long, begin to break all over again, just as it had the night the love of her life had died, and the son they both loved so much was made into a Jinchuuriki. "No, Naruto." She collapsed again, sobbing, murmuring her son's name all over again. She stood suddenly, tears still streaming, but a determination that just like her son's shining in her eyes. "I'm going after him."

She made to dash after her son, but Jiraiya's hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Jiraiya!"

"Let him be," Jiraiya said, unusually serious. "Naruto didn't do anything more than yell this time, and considering what his mental state must be right now, I'd say that it's a pretty good thing."

"Was that…Kyuubi?" Kushina asked, still shaking from the murderous look in her son's eyes.

"It was."

"What happened to Minato-kun's seal?"

Jiraiya smiled grimly. "It doesn't matter. Kyuubi is stuck inside Naruto for all time. I don't know how, but somehow, Naruto _is _the seal now. Just by living he keeps the Kyuubi locked up, unlike before where the Kyuubi could possibly break free. As far as I can tell, it's impossible for the fox to break out, because it'll kill itself in the process. Besides, it appears that Naruto and the demon have made some kind of pact. Kyuubi won't try to usurp Naruto's control in exchange for Naruto not dying. To that end, they will cooperate and fight with each other." Jiraiya frowned. "I'm still not comfortable with it, but I can't deny the results."

"What results?"

Jiraiya looked Naruto's mother right in the eye. "Your son used his pact with Kyuubi to take down Orochimaru." Kushina blinked.

"Impossible!" She cried, not believing it. "How could he do it when even you and Tsunade-chan had trouble with him!?"

"Never mind that," Jiraiya said gravely. "Naruto did have a point in his little tirade. Why did you abandon your own son when he needed a mom the most? He doesn't know you like I do, Kushina-chan. I know you would've taken care of him the way he should've been from the very beginning." The sage glared at the woman. "You owe an explanation."

Kushina rubbed her arm, green eyes downcast. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not the one you should be saying that to."

The kunoichi flinched. "I know. And I know it's not enough. I'm never going to be able to make it up to him." She looked at Jiraiya, looked him straight in the eyes. "I abandoned Naruto. I know that. I hated myself for it. I still hate myself for it and Naruto's anger just makes it that much worse." She went to the upraised stage at the other end of the room and sat down on it. Jiraiya sat next to her.

"There's no explanation for what I did to him," Kushina continued. "But…I just couldn't take it anymore. I'm not sure you can understand it, but in one night, Minato-kun was dead, many of my friends were killed in the Kyuubi's attack and my son…" She broke down, sobbing, but it wasn't about Naruto's hash words. "I saw my son as a demon!" She shouted, her voice filled with self-loathing, and self-hatred. "God help me, I saw my son as the Kyuubi that night! I didn't see Naruto I saw Kyuubi! I saw Kyuubi and I blamed him for everything! Minato dying, my friends…everyone…" She broke down in to hysterical sobbing. "I wanted to…to kill him." Her hands, resting in her lap, were clenched together, her knuckles bone white as she trembled.

"Is that why you left?" Jiraiya asked softly, all his anger at Kushina leaking away in place of pity.

Kushina, eyes red and bloodshot, nodded weakly. "I…I wanted so bad to kill Naruto. My baby. What kind of mother _am I_!?" She shrieked. Before Jiraiya could answer, she plowed ahead. It sounded like she'd been storing this up for years. "I...so I left. I felt like I had nothing left. The love of my life was dead and my son had been replaced by a demon that looked like him. I felt like I had nothing left."

"What happened after that?" The sage prodded. He wasn't mad at Kushina anymore. Despite himself, he _couldn't _get mad. Naruto's mother looked so pathetic, so pitiful, a total contrast to the fiery and feisty woman he knew so well, that it just tore at his insides. Jiraiya had always been bad at comforting others and this time, he felt more lost and confused than ever.

"I was well on my way back home when I finally calmed down and got my head on straight. But I couldn't come back. If I came back to Konoha…I didn't…" She trailed off, hiccoughing.

"You didn't know what you would see in Naruto. You didn't know if you would see your son or the Kyuubi." Kushina nodded.

"The shame too," she added. "I was just so ashamed of how I acted that I just ran from it."

"Uzumaki Kushina, running from a problem? Is the sky falling too?" It was a weak attempt at humor, but it did make Kushina's mouth quirk up slightly.

"What kind of mother am I?" Kushina whispered, still mortified at her behavior from years ago. "What kind of mother abandons her own son?"

"You're only human," Jiraiya said bracingly. "Yes your actions were not your best, but just being human means you'll make some inappropriate decisions, some selfish decisions, things you'll regret for the rest of your life. Like me."

"Huh?"

"I wasn't any better, Kushina-chan. I'm Naruto's godfather. You and Minato were so thrilled to appoint me as a godfather, but I abandoned Naruto too. I left the village, hunting Orochimaru and spending time writing trashy novels, all because Minato's memory haunted me like a ghost in Konoha. Everywhere I looked, I saw some little reminder of him. When I came back, Naruto was twelve or thirteen. When I saw him…I couldn't believe it. It was like Minato was back from the dead." Jiraiya looked at his feet, speaking more to himself than to Naruto's mother. "I felt even more guilty, but I couldn't believe how well he turned out. He'd been oppressed and ostracized, but he held his head high and faced the world with a sunny smile on his face."

"What did you do?"

"I decided to make it up to him," Jiraiya answered. "I would train him, educate him in things that others couldn't, and watch over him, just as I should've from the beginning. It took everything I had to tell Naruto I was his godfather to his face and I only managed that before we got into town. It took me eight years to admit to him that I should've been there for him and I wasn't."

"Have you made it up to him?"

"Of course not. I'll never be able to make it up to him. I look at Naruto like my own grandson. As long as there's breath in my body, I'll never be able to make it up to him. Naruto…could burst through that door and take my head off and I would be happy."

The two lapsed into silence.

"How do I make it up to him?" Kushina asked finally. "I feel still feel horrible after all of this. I have nightmares about it and he's never very far from my thoughts. Him and Minato both and the what-ifs that come with it. I want that feeling to go away. I don't want to keep living with this shame."

"Do you mean that?" Jiraiya returned. "Do you truly feel sorry for what you've done to Naruto?"

"Of course!" Kushina shouted, leaping to her feet. "What kind of heartless bitch do you think I am!?"

"It's probably better if I don't answer that," the pervert answered, totally serious. "But, just by feeling remorse for your actions and wanting to apologize, you've taken the first step. I'll be honest with you Kushina-chan. What lies ahead is a long and difficult road and Naruto might not be especially receptive, especially right now. The key is that you never give up. I don't know how you'll make it up. You might never make it up or you might do it tomorrow. I can't tell you that. What I _will _tell you is that if you try and decide half-way through that you don't want to do it anymore and played with Naruto's emotions as a result…" Killing intent washed over Kushina, making her shiver. Jiraiya's killing intent was rarely seen by anyone, but it was terrifying when it was unleashed. "I'll kill you myself."

Kushina grinned, her old self coming back into place. "You don't need to worry, Jiraiya. When have I ever done anything halfway?" She turned for the door, sprinting into the light and dashed away, following after her son.

* * *

Well, Kushina's finally in the picture! Yay! Or maybe not. After all, she did abandon her own son. But before you start bashing her, try to put yourself in her shoes. Your lover's dead. Most of your friends are dead, your village is on fire and trashed, and you see your son as a demon. What would you do in that situation? Kushina isn't a perfect person. She made stupid decisions and now it's caught up with her. Naruto didn't act like a perfect son either this time, yelling in her face and leaving in a rage before he let her explain herself. So yeah. Just try to be empathetic before bashing Kushina, that's all I ask.

Later,

~WingedFreedom622


	28. Rage

Disclaimer: Own nothing

Another Disclaimer: This chapter is about 1000 words shorter than usual, but you'll see why at the end.

* * *

Naruto dashed over the rooftops of the village, moving as fast as his feet could carry him. No specific destination was in mind. He just wanted to get as far away from the woman who called herself his mother as he could. His anger had cooled somewhat, but hadn't died away totally. At least he wasn't cloaked in two tails' worth of youki anymore. That would've caused undue panic in the city below.

After almost half an hour of nonstop running, Naruto found himself on a pristine beach, with brilliant white sand that was soft and untouched by any foot. Behind him was a carpet of short jade grass and in front of him was the sapphire sea, the ice-white waves breaking on the shore with a rhythmic thumping that soothed Naruto further, but still didn't manage to completely snuff the flames of his anger.

"How could she!?" He demanded of the boundless ocean. "How could she just abandon her kid like that!?" The twinkling expanse of moving water had no answer for him. Naruto sat in the sand, ignoring how he would probably have a massive chafing problem when he left.

His eyes suddenly burned and a single hot tear streaked down his face, dripped off his chin, then dropped into the sand, turning the yellow grains a dark brown. Inside him, the Kyuubi didn't know what to do. The demon's specialty was shredding the enemy, not comforting stricken hosts. Besides, the Nine-Tails was the source of Naruto's strife. Was it right for the cause to comfort the thing he hurt? Somehow, the fox didn't think so and withdrew to the room with his old cage in it, leaving Naruto alone at the front of his consciousness.

The blond lost track of how long he sat there, just staring out over the waves as they came in to pound the beach, each receding wave leaving a thin crust of drying foam on the dark wet sand. While he sat there, Naruto replayed the meeting he'd had with his mother. The boundless joy he'd felt when he'd finally gotten to feel a mother's embrace, then the limitless anger that had come on joy's heels when he realized that she'd abandoned him.

He didn't stir until a kunai whistled past his face and slit his cheek open.

The moment Naruto felt his flesh split, he rolled away from the attack, slashing one hand across the sand to kick up a spray and hopefully blind his attacker. While he rolled and slashed, Naruto's free hand dug in his shuriken holster and flung a pair of stars in the general direction of the unknown assailant.

When the cloud of sand settled, there was a masked man in a stereotypical black costume. However, there was a minor detail. He was bleeding out of a small gash on his shoulder, probably from Naruto's shuriken. The man looked rather surprised that he'd been hit.

"Not bad," the man said. Naruto frowned. The man's voice was familiar but for the life of him he couldn't place it. It was a voice he'd heard recently. "But you're still outnumbered."

"Really?" Naruto growled, his temper, already agitated by his mom, now reaching boiling again. The black-swathed shinobi blinked when Naruto's eyes bled from blue to crimson. "Where's your buddies?"

"Right here."

The man gestured and the sand in multiple places, sections of grass, areas of water, all exploded outward and close to twenty shinobi raced out, each swathed in the same black garb as their leader. Naruto took in each of the men as they surrounded him in a circle. Then each made a familiar hand seal that Naruto knew intimately.

A cross-shaped seal.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**"

A massive explosion of smoke obscured Naruto's vision and when the sea breeze cleared the smoke away, Naruto was now outnumbered two _hundred_ to one instead of just twenty-one to one. "What's this all about?" Naruto asked.

"You and your friend killed our comrades," the man answered. "Our honor demands that you die and the old man as well."

Naruto snorted derisively. "If you think you can take out Ero-sennin, even if you can take out me, you're in for a big surprise." He cracked his knuckles, an ominous popping noise in the silence following his statement. "And anyway, I have to thank you bastards."

"Oh? Why?"

The Jinchuuriki grinned viciously as his canines visibly sharpened into fangs, the men surrounding him all backing up a half-step. "I'm in a really bad mood and I could use a good beat down to vent my frustrations. Unfortunately for you, I'm not feeling particularly merciful either." The grin vanished. "Kyuubi. Let's play."

'**With pleasure!'**

Immidiatly, crimson youki burst from Naruto's body and settled over him, the tail that swung behind him splitting in half once, then the two tails splitting again. When the fourth tail appeared, the chakra went from a transparent red-orange to a red so dark it was black, though it didn't cook away the jounin's skin like it used to in the old days. Naruto was far more powerful now, able to withstand five tails for a time before he needed the chakra buffer, though six tails was when he needed the buffer from the get go.

A few of the men shivered uncontrollably then split, screaming from the bloodlust that suddenly pounded their senses.

"A Jinchuuriki," the leader whispered, awed. "If we could control that power, then we could put the rightful government back in power in just a matter of days." He glared at the men that were still present. "Get him! Take him alive to our leader!"

The mob of shinobi rushed forward, the black form of the four-tailed Naruto lost below a crush of bodies, both real and cloned. For a second there was nothing but the grunts of shinobi as they threw their bodies on top of one another. Then there was a huge rush of killing intent, followed the roar of a great predatory monster.

The pile of shinobi dissolved with a noise like a cannon shot, the roar rising above all other noises as a ferocious wind raced outwards like a shockwave, buffeting all present and dispelling a great many clones in the process. When the chaos died down, Naruto, or at least the thing that looked vaguely like him, was squatting in the sand as if it had never moved. The thing took in all the shinobi that were still arrayed in front of him, a low growl rumbling in its throat, its glowing white eyes betraying no sign of emotion, no hint of where it was looking, though each man shivered as the creature's gaze passed over them.

For a second the battlefield was a frozen tableau, except for the four tails that roiled behind the creature like snakes that were in ceaseless motion. The mouth, just a jagged white horizontal gash on a black face, curled slightly upward. There was no mistaking that it was a smile. This creature was _mocking_ them, goading them to attack.

So the Knights of Whirlpool obliged.

Each man and clone sent shuriken spinning from his fingers, the stars whipping low over the sand toward the man-creature that Naruto had become. The white eyes narrowed, the omnipresent growl deepening in intensity. One black arm raised, and with a deft swipe, loosed a shockwave that knocked every shuriken out of the air.

Then it was among them.

The leader of the band had no idea when the creature moved, but it had and now it was tearing into the group with relentless fury that was unmatched by anything he had ever seen before. Men and clones were flung around like rag dolls, some of the thrown men popping in a burst of shinobi smoke, others screaming as they flew away at the heads of long trails of blood to slam into the ground a healthy distance away.

The ferocity of the attack forced the Knights back, opening up a space around the demon again. One man wasn't fast enough and was plucked from the air like a snake snapping a bird from the sky. The creature had caught the man by the throat, his feet kicking uselessly, a strangled scream tearing its way from his throat as the intense heat of the chakra slowly burned away his skin.

For ten long seconds he struggled, then, with a sickening crack, the claw contracted suddenly and the man fell limp, his last breath rattling from his lungs as the squeezing claw broke his neck. The corpse dropped to Kyuubi-Naruto's feet as the creature howled, triumphant, letting all know that he, not the pathetic human that had challenged him, had emerged the victor.

"Wha-What the hell is he!?" One of the men demanded.

The leader of the Knights band frowned. "I remember hearing that Konoha had a Jinchuuriki under its control. Supposedly, the Bijou was the Kyuubi. Anyone see any village ID on this guy?"

"No but he was traveling with an old man who said he was an author."

"Old man who's an author? Sounds like Jiraiya of the Sannin. So then this guy must be his student and that means that…" the man felt the blood recede from his face. "This _is _the Kyuubi! He even said so! I thought that he was only kidding!"

A black claw suddenly shot past the man's face, the hooked thumb taking a small piece from the man's shoulder. He bit back a scream as he felt his flesh and muscle cook under the intense heat of the creature's claw, the acrid scent of burning flesh scorching his nose. "Fall back!" The force tried to fall away from the fox demon, but the creature plunged its hands into the sand, which hissed then turned to glass where it touched the shell of chakra.

From the sand behind the group burst two massive black towers of chakra that grew claws at their pinnacle. The shadows they cast fell over the group, who turned, some screaming when they beheld the massive towers. Then the claws slammed down, the explosion throwing sand, and grassy chunks of dirt all over, the upside-down U shapes of the claws adding a horrifying touch to the scene.

When it cleared, a healthy section of sand had been turned to glass, and crushed shinobi were the order of the day. Well, at least the Knight leader thought they were shinobi. The bloody smears were unrecognizable as anything even remotely human.

The rest of the men were already heading for the hills. The leader tried to follow, but a third claw split from one of the bent ones and cut his path off. A low satisfied growl caressed his ears. The man made a noise that sounded like a mouse being stepped on. He turned around right as Kyuubi-Naruto pulled his claws from the sand. The rebel Uzu-nin could hear the tunnels that had been burned through the sand sizzling as they cooled.

'I can't fight this thing!' The leader thought, eyes wild, 'But if I want to live, I have to!' He shot at the crouching mass of black chakra, which just eyed him almost indifferently. Before the shinobi could do more than slam on the brakes, a claw burst from Kyuubi-Naruto's back, streaking straight for the nin's face. The man ducked, and cringed as he felt the claw streak past him so close that that he could feel the heat off of it. The shinobi grinned madly beneath his mask.

"Now I've got you!"

He pulled a kunai from his sleeve, the deadly weapon dripping with poison, then stabbed at the crouching demon, who looked slightly surprised, despite the fact that Naruto's facial expressions were extremely limited in that form.

The kunai dug into the shell of chakra, stopping cold before even reaching Naruto. By that time, the demon recovered and swept a claw across the shinobi's body, opening three long gashes on his torso, though the shinobi managed to lean back right at the last second and ease up on some of the damage. He followed through, kicking Kyuubi-Naruto in the chin with his heel as he kicked into a flip that got him away from the enraged jounin and on his feet again.

When the shinobi realized that he probably didn't have the tools to beat the fox right at that second, he reached into a hidden pocked in the small of his back and withdrew a pair of smoke bombs and a couple tagged kunai.

The kunai went for the fox, exploding the moment they touched him. No damage was done but Kyuubi-Naruto was thrown into the surf, the ocean hissing in agitation as the salt water was instantly turned to scalding steam.

The shinobi threw the smoke bombs at his feet right as the four-tailed Naruto burst from the surf, howling in anger as he launched another extending claw at the cloud of white smoke that was covering his enemy's figure.

The claw shot right through without hitting anything.

The attack retracted and the black shell of chakra began to lighten to its normal crimson before it faded totally, leaving Naruto, totally human, standing knee-deep in the surf. The Jinchuuriki's eyes still smoldered, but they were blue once again and not an angry red. His skin was red, as if he'd just come from a hot shower or had a bad sunburn, a few spots of black marring his hands, the places where youki had built up before being expelled for the claw attacks.

'**Well that was a fun workout,' **the Kyuubi remarked as it stretched inside Naruto's mind before curling up like he was about to take a nap, which he did most of the time when the chances of Naruto being attacked were minimal. The demon's rumbling snores filled Naruto's head before the jounin had time to respond.

"Lazy ass," the blond muttered before heading further down the beach. No one needed to know that he'd been responsible for a lot of the carnage on this little stretch of sand, Naruto thought as he went about rubbing some of the chill saltwater on his red and irritated skin. He itched all over, especially where his clothes rubbed against his skin though he had to admit, at least it was better than when his skin would cook away. _That_ had hurt like a son of a bitch and he wasn't eager to repeat the experience.

* * *

The redness had faded by the time Naruto reached a small cliff that was overlooking the boundless ocean. The blond sighed as he started digging deep inside himself, looking for the memories of the parents he could barely remember and the one he'd only just met. His head was clearer than it had been but the jounin didn't know how the sight of his mother would affect him if he had to confront her again. After an hour of searching the only memories Naruto could come up with were the sounds of intense sobbing and, a little before that, the warm smiles looking down on him from on high.

"Why!?" Naruto demanded to the sky, slamming his fist into the sandy soil and scrubby brush beside him. He ignored the small puff of sand that erupted at his blow. Something hot spilled down his cheeks but Naruto ignored it. His anger was passing, replaced by a mix of sorrow and impotent rage. "Why would you abandon your own kid?"

"I have no excuse, Naruto," said a voice from behind him. Naruto stiffened, his anger returning, though not flaming hot. Not yet at least.

"What do you want?" he demanded sullenly, pulling his hirai-ate from his pocket and running a thumb over the engraved leaf-shaped spiral. It was either rub the hirai-ate or try to fight the urge to throw a kunai at his mom, which wouldn't be very productive. Naruto had always just wanted a family, but as much as he wanted to understand his mother's reasons and hear her side of things, just the mere sound of her voice was enough to almost set him off.

Kushina came up beside her son, holding one arm in her uncertainty. "Mind if I sit down?" Naruto made a noncommittal grunt, studiously avoiding looking at her. Kushina took that to mean yes. She sat beside him, staring out at the sparkling sea. "Naruto, I…" she stopped, then tried again, but couldn't get the words out. The speech she'd composed for this moment had just died away the moment she saw him. On one hand, she was immensely proud of the man her son had grown up to become, but on the other hand, she couldn't bring herself to apologize to him, since she knew that it wouldn't be enough. "I'm sorry," she whispered, then blinked, surprised. The apology had slipped out of its own accord. Kushina decided to pick up the ball and run with it. "I know that's not enough, but…please accept it."

"You expect me to just accept an I'm sorry then think that we can be a big happy family?" Naruto demanded, still not looking at his mother.

Kushina smiled sadly. "I know that just saying that isn't enough, but please, let me say it anyway. It's the only place I know where to start. You understand how awkward this is for us…how do I reconcile with the son I abandoned when he needed a mother and father the most?"

"Easy," Naruto answered. "You don't." Kushina blinked. Naruto finally looked at her, eyes crimson and cat-like. "I don't know if I can ever forgive you. Do you have any idea what it's like to be abandoned by your parents, grow up hated, despised and ostracized, then suddenly find out that your mother, who you haven't even given a second thought about since you were six suddenly enters your life again?"

Kushina nodded. "I can't imagine what you went through. I knew that your life would be tough, but please Naruto, understand, I lost everything I cared about that night. Your father died trying to stop the fox, you were made into a Jinchuuriki, and most of the friends I had in Konoha were killed in the attack. I…just couldn't take it. I left because I couldn't handle it."

"So why didn't you take me with you?" Naruto asked, rage cooling somewhat. He knew how much it hurt to lose a cherished friend. The memory of Sasuke's defection still ate at him, and the what ifs kept circling his head every time he thought about it.

Kushina began to cry and Naruto felt a vindictive pleasure surge through him at the sight, followed immidiatly by guilt. He knew that he was being unfair to his mother, but at the same time, how could he forgive her? He just didn't have an answer. "I…Naruto, I'm so sorry. You're going to get tired of hearing that, but it's the only excuse I have." Kushina brought her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on top of it. "I…I saw…when I saw you after the Kyuubi was sealed away, I couldn't get past the fact that the fox was responsible for the deaths of so many dear to me. I…" she choked on her words, and Naruto could see how much whatever she was trying to admit was tearing at her. "I…saw the demon…when I looked at you, I didn't see you. I didn't see my son, I just saw the fox. That's when I left. It wasn't till I was well on my way that I realized how dumb I'd been. I wanted to go back, to hold you the way I should've that night, but I couldn't. I was scared of what I would see. I was scared that I would try to kill you. That's why I stayed away. I was trying to protect you."

Naruto's voice was dangerous when he spoke. "That's a shitty reason and you know it."

Kushina nodded, tears still streaming down her face. "Not a night goes by where I don't think about my decisions. Some nights, I'll wake up, pack my bags, wanting to return to Konoha and then I'll stop and…I just can't bring myself to face you." She dissolved into a sobbing mass and remained that way for the better part of fifteen minutes. When she finally couldn't cry anymore, Kushina managed to choke out a few more words. "I'm a horrible person."

Naruto sighed. "No. No you're not." Kushina looked at him, surprised, the shock written all over her face, green eyes, still wet from crying, wide with the answer. The blond sighed again. If anyone could empathize with her about what it was like to lose everything, to have nothing, it was him. She'd left him, sure. Not exactly grade-A mom material, but…could Naruto have done any different? He didn't have any right to judge her unless he'd been in her position. How would he react if he was in a foreign country and Sakura-chan, Tenten, Kakashi, Jiraiya, and all the others died? "You just had a shit ton of crap dumped on you at the last second."

"Naruto." She tried to hug him, but he shook her off.

"Don't touch me. I can't hate you anymore, but I'm not going to forgive you that easily. I don't know if I ever can." He stowed the hirai-ate in his pocket. He and Jiraiya had both removed any sign of them being Konoha shinobi. Naruto had even taken off his T-shirt and replaced it with a white one with a simple blue square in the chest. He stood and headed back for the city. Kushina watched him go, waited until he vanished, then followed after her son. Jiraiya was right. The road to forgiveness would be long and hard.

Maybe that road had no end to it.

* * *

In a hidden location, the leader of the shinobi that Naruto had slaughtered earlier at the beach knelt before his lord and commander. The man sat on a simple chair made of thick sticks and a rawhide bottom and back. The leader's entire upper half was thrown into shadow, made invisible by the way the chair sat when compared with the light.

"My lord," the masked commander said, "I'm sorry. I have failed you. I am prepared to accept any punishment that you may deem necessary." The leader stirred, but otherwise didn't answer. The masked man continued to wait. He would wait for all time if he needed to. This man was the one who could free Uzu from its oppressors. He would be the one to lead the tiny country back into greatness.

"Who was the adversary?" the leader asked finally.

"A man by the name of Uzumaki Naruto, and Jiraiya of the Sannin, though he was not present at the battle."

"Uzumaki…is he related to the Uzumaki clan?"

The masked man nodded. "He claims to be the son of Uzumaki Kushina, and she seems to support the idea, given her reaction when she saw him at the Uzumaki estate."

The leader's shadow shifted, his head barely inclining in a nod. "I see," he said. "Then I cannot fault you for failing. This time. Understand, if you fail again, you shall be killed and no one will mourn your loss. Uzumaki Naruto, and if he's traveling with Jiraiya even more so, is a threat to us. We must kill him." The masked man fidgeted under his leader's hard gaze. "You will have an opportunity to redeem yourself. If Uzumaki Kushina is Uzumaki Naruto's mother, then we cannot ignore this opportunity. Kidnap Uzumaki Kushina. Bring her to me. The Uzumaki are fools who follow their emotions and little else. This Uzumaki Naruto will be sure to try and rescue his beloved mother." The man on the ground remained silent, despite the slight against his clan. The leader scribbled something on a piece of paper that he retrieved from the stand beside him.

"My lord," the man said, "I don't know if Naruto will come for Kushina. I heard a horrible shouting match going on in the main hall of the estate and Uzumaki Naruto fled not too long after. That was when I gathered my raiders and went after him to ascertain his alliance. It appears that Konohagakure has no intention of sending reinforcements to this fight."

The leader handed the man the slip of paper, which had been sealed by a small circle of wax. "Leave that for Uzumaki to find when you kidnap his mother. He will come then. And, remember, Uzumaki Daisuke, do not fail me again." Daisuke peeled off his mask, shaking his hair out of his eyes.

"Yes my lord."

The shadows flickered and Daisuke was gone.

* * *

Dun-dun-DUN! Daisuke's one of Naruto's enemies! Gasp! As if no one saw that coming...Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and for those of you who are my fellow Americans, Happy Independence Day!


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